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CiJPaRIGHT DEPOSm 



PRACTICAL 
SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 

INTRODUCTORY 
COURSE 



By 
RAY C. BEERY 

A. B. (Columbia). M. A. (Harvard) 



President of 

INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF DISCIPLINE 

Pleasant Hill, Ohio, U. S. A. 



3^ 



Copyrighted, 1916, by 
RAY C. BEERY 

Copyrighted, Great Britain, 1916 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



MAR 28 1917 



'CI.A457612 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface v-vii 

Introductory Course ix-xxv 

Part I, The Teacher 27-88 

Part II, The School 89-101 

Part III, Discipline: Its Province and 

End . . 103-111 

Part IV, Fundamental Principles in 

Discipline 113-171 

Index ,...= .. 172, 173 



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PREFACE 

FROM the first sting of a blackboard pointer 
received at the hand of a primary teacher 
for a slight overflow of energy, to the last 
serious fracture of discipline which I recall 
in High School, I pondered over the methods used 
by my teachers and talked with others, frequently, 
about this matter of discipline. 

Very often after observing an extremely an- 
noying day for a teacher, who seemed to think that 
all trouble was due to the pupils, I would feel like 
rising in my seat, half through sympathy and half 
through disgust, and shouting, "Teacher, it*s all 
wrong. We pupils are human. There are ways 
of appealing to us and getting the results you want, 
if only you apply the right methods.*' 

The solving of various problems of discipline for 
the purpose of helping teachers to accomplish their 
tremendous task, has always appealed to me very 
much, but it was not until the Senior year in High 
School that I seriously considered making the study 
of discipline my life-work. 

It was the result of observing closely every day 
for four years, the different methods used by two 
High School instructors and, most important of all, 
the consistent results of those methods which con- 
vinced me that the subject of discipline could be 
analyzed. 



VI Practical School Discipline 

The course, which you are starting to read, is 
the result of long observation, careful study and 
constant thought in this important field. The sub- 
ject has resolved itself into a very few fundamental 
principles, the proper application of which will in- 
variably get results in the right direction. 

There are no cut and dried rules with which all 
school room problems can be met; yet, the wise 
experience of hundreds of teachers has taught that 
there are certain principles which can be safely fol- 
lowed and the application of which will unfailingly 
increase the teacher's success in dealing with trou- 
blesome problems. 

Not only are the fundamental principles fully ex- 
plained and made simple, but there are definite 
concrete school-room problems given, together with 
the safest treatment to apply. The problems are 
real. They have presented themselves many times 
and will continue to present themselves as long as 
schools exist. 

Correct methods are given to meet the most per- 
plexing situations as well as the petty though 
annoying troubles that troop through each school 
day. Each method presented has been tested and 
tried and found to get good results. 

The application of the methods presented in this 
course will also have a lasting effect on the lives of 
those disciplined. This is an aim which, indeed, 
must underlie all true discipline. 

The language and phraseology used is that which 
can be understood by the most humble teacher. In 



Preface vii 

speaking of the teacher always in the masculine, I 
have followed the custom of the specialists. "He" 
will mean usually *'he or she." 

In preparing this course, I have constantly kept 
in mind the thousands of teachers in every quarter 
of the land — North, South, East and West — who 
are laboring in one-room schools where they are 
moulding the characters of boys and girls who 
will be the men and women of tomorrow; men, 
who will guide the destiny of the state and women 
to be lit mothers of a greater race. The teachers 
whose labors are in the rural hamlets and the 
larger villages have been remembered; also those 
whose tasks are more manifold in the busy city 
where school-room problems are varied and com- 
plex. 

This course is prepared to meet an almost uni- 
versal demand. Teachers, like all other practical 
human beings, are eager for concrete information 
and ideas which they can apply. Any information 
at all which makes for better discipline is, by the 
worthy teacher, considered quite worth while. 



"/« schools and colleges, in fleet and army, 
discipline means success, and anarchy means ruin.'* 

(Froude.) 



**One in charge of children cannot 
know TOO much about themJ* 



••• 

Vlll 



Introductory Course 



1 



REACHING school means Infinitely more 
than the mere giving of lessons in reading, 
writing and arithmetic. It means the mould- 
ing of human lives and characters. 
The amount of good which a single enlightened 
teacher may do for humanity can hardly be over- 
estimated. Children of all grades look upon their 
teachers in a certain sense as heroes whom they ad- 
mire and emulate. Great, therefore, is the teach- 
er's responsibility. 

Conduct and Discipline 

Not only Is the teacher a great moral force in 
the school and community but certain of his traits 
and habits are so very closely related to discipline 
that the first part of the book is devoted exclusive- 
ly to 'The Teacher." 

The teacher should have a very definite code of 
morals — a code of morals that is in no sense vague 
or indefinite or weak. He should not be undecided 
even about small details relating to the moral code. 
Children admire strong characters. They are quick 
to detect weakness. 

This Course presents a code of morals for the 
teacher which Is v^ry concrete. The teacher will 
consider It most sensible because every idea is 
grounded on sound and logical reasons. This part 

Ix 



X Practical School Discipline 

of the Course, in presenting reasons along with the 
detailed and definite code of morals should help 
every teacher who reads it. Even though you are 
now leading a strong, influential life, reading this 
part of the Course will strengthen your convictions 
and in that way help you to be yet stronger. 

School Surroundings and Discipline 

It cannot be denied that every factor in the 
child^s surroundings has some influence upon him. 
It would be diflicult to introduce principles of order 
and system into a child's school work, if that child 
were surrounded by disorder in the school-room 
equipment. We all know that the appetizing effect 
of a luncheon is heightened by cleanliness, the taste 
with which the luncheon and the dishes are ar- 
ranged, even the mode of serving the food and the 
general appearance of the room. Comparatively 
few teachers realize the relation of the school 
surroundings to discipline. The second part of the 
book is devoted to "The School." This part of 
the Course discusses various factors in the sur- 
roundings which the teacher may control, and sug- 
gests many things about the room equipment which 
will greatly aid him in securing good work and 
order. 

Every teacher, in dealing with pupils, should 
have well fixed in his mind the true province 
and end in discipline. The third division of this 
book is devoted to "The Province and End in Dis- 
cipline," which is an extremely important discus- 
sion. No idea is less understood than is discipline. 



Introductory Course xi 



In its restricted meaning and application, it means 
far too little. Discipline permeates most thorough- 
ly every activity of humankind. Every avenue of 
progress owes its measure of success to the meas- 
ure of discipline found therein. Could discipline 
come into its own province and manifest its fullest 
force, there evidently would be no need of penal 
institutions, courts of justice and other reformatory 
measures. Far too many teachers believe their 
work in the school-room well done and designate 
themselves as good disciplinarians if they have 
managed to get through the school year without 
any more serious difficulty than having to adminis- 
ter a whipping or two, or perhaps, suspend a pupil 
for a week or ten days. To call this discipline is 
indeed deplorable. 

The True End in Discipline 

Some teachers on being asked, "What is the end 
to be sought in discipline?" have answered, *'Good 
order." Others have answered, "Quietness such 
that lessons may be studied." But these are mere 
conditions of successful school work and are not 
at all ends to be attained in discipline. The teach- 
er who thinks of these conditions as being the ends 
in discipline is not only liable to use improper 
means, but will be satisfied with a mere semblance 
of success. The true end of discipline is none other 
than the acquirement of self-control. This includes 
six very definite things which are explained in 
Part Three. 



xii Practical School Discipline 

It is the failure to understand the nature of 
children, which causes so much friction and trouble 
with them. By *'nature," I do not mean merely 
the child's disposition, as this view is far too 
narrow. Let us clearly explain, in the next few 
paragraphs, the distinction between individual dis- 
position and fundamental nature. 

An Important Distinction 

It is true, popular lecturers often bore us by 
speeches in which they emphasize over and over 
the necessity of knowing the disposition of our in- 
dividual child. Of course, it is helpful to know the 
individual disposition; but the mistaken emphasis 
placed upon this detail as compared with really 
knowing the general and fundamental nature of 
children is indeed astounding. 

A case was reported to me not long ago of a 
child-lecturer who chanced to be confronted with a 
practical situation. Little "George," a visitor, was 
near a newspaper in the drawing-room. The 
gentleman asked George to bring the newspaper to 
him. George refused. The command was repeated. 
"George, bring me the newspaper." George re- 
fused. He again gave more commands, in a 
louder tone of voice while George laughed at him. 
The lecturer then started over to him and George 
ran behind a table. The man soon managed to 
seize the boy's hand and escorted him over to the 
newspaper, whereupon he again commanded him to 
pick up the paper. George refused. The gentle- 
man took the boy's hands and tried to force them 



Introductory Course xili 

to grasp the newspaper but George's fingers were 
lax. At this moment, George received a keen slap 
on the side of the face. He was then told to 
pick up the paper and he did so. Why? Merely 
through fear? (The fallacy of this method will 
be discussed later on.) 

The point of the above illustration is this : That 
man would treat all of ten thousand other children 
in precisely the same way as he did George if they 
refused to obey him. And yet this same lecturer 
is continually going before mothers* clubs and ad- 
monishing them thus: '^Mothers, mothers — ^know 
your individual child." If his doctrine is so impor- 
tant, why does he not practice what he preaches? 
A man or woman, parent or teacher, who cannot 
get a child to obey, without slapping him or threat- 
ening him, has something fundamental to learn 
about child training. This man not only failed to 
be influenced by the boy's individual disposition but 
he showed by his method that he did not under- 
stand the fundamental nature of children. 

To explain further the distinction between in- 
dividual disposition and fundamental nature, you 
have in your room live pupils: Ralph, Charley, 
Miriam, Fay and Helen. Let us assume that these 
pupils are as different in disposition as it is possible 
for them to be. Ralph is pessimistic, secretive and 
has a bad temper. Charley is optimistic, frank and 
very amiable. Miriam and Fay have certain other 
opposite characteristics and Helen is in a class by 
herself — overbearing, spiteful, high tempered and 
hard to approach. 



xiv Practical School Discipline 

Now what shall we do? Must we use a funda- 
mentally different method on each of these pupils 
in order to reach the same result? By no means. 
While these five pupils have characteristics which 
are distinctly their own and different from each 
other, yet they have precisely the same instincts 
underlying their actions. They have the same in- 
dividual instincts, thei same .adaptive instincts, the 
same social Instincts, the same regulative instincts 
and the same parental instincts. If we appeal to 
the same Instinct In one child that we appeal to in 
another we will get a similar result. The expres- 
sion will not be exactly the same, of course. One 
child may react more quickly than another or with 
more enthusiasm but nevertheless the response will 
be similar. For example, if I do something which 
Ralph sees Is going to push forward his own 
Interests : If I praise Ralph for something which he 
has done, he will react in the same direction as 
will Charley, Miriam, Fay and Helen when I ap- 
peal to the same instinct in them, such as their 
instinctive desire for approval. 

Instead of only five pupils, we might take a 
hundred or a thousand pupils, each one having a 
disposition slightly different from all the others. 
Their natures are all based upon certain fundamen- 
tal Instincts common to the race. Therefore, it is this 
fundamental nature of the pupil which we must 
know. The disposition of the particular pupils is 
a matter of detail as compared with the deep-seated 
and essential nature and will not trouble us much 
after we have learned the fundamental principles 



Introductory Course xxi 

Of course, there will always be exceptions. A 
certain pupil may be apparently abnormal and ex- 
tremely hard to govern. But even with the pro- 
verbial exception, really surprising things can be 
accomplished by the application of wise methods. 

The aim, stated above, is not unreasonable. The 
author has clear evidence of this. In his own town, 
the superintendent of schools went so far as to 
allow even the pupils to know that he would not 
punish them with physical pain. He explained why 
he would not and the result was wonderful, as he 
expected. Instead of the pupils taking advantage 
of such a policy, it appealed to them. They re- 
spected this superintendent. They realized that he 
was there to help them and they allowed him to 
do so. 

A Real Accomplishment 

Out of seventy pupils who attended the school 
at the opening of the term, sixty-seven were in 
regular attendance throughout the year and two 
of the three pupils who did drop out had very good 
outside reasons. This record is astonishing but 
the discipline in that High School is also remark- 
able. This superintendent has carried out with 
wonderful results the principles explained in this 
Course. 

The Common Sense Factor 

Some people tell us that teachers are born and 
not made, that tact is an innate quality. Of course, 
there is a certain amount of truth in this. It is 



xxli Practical School Discipline 

needless to say that not all teachers can attain the 
same high degree of efficiency In controlling a 
school. But to say that a certain teacher can never 
succeed, because he does not have tact is to express 
ignorance of the true nature of tact. Tact cannot 
be entirely separated from knowledge. Tact and 
common sense increase in direct proportion to the 
advance of one's knowledge. 

One employs tact when he says and does the 
right thing at the right time and place. Tact im- 
plies skill in dealing with immediate circumstances. 
Therefore, the more experience one has in dealing 
with a given circumstance the more proficient he 
should become. The mind profits by experience. 
A wise teacher also profits by Ideas. If someone 
relates a case of discipline to you In which tact was 
used, you can use the same Idea in a similar cir- 
cumstance and you will also be using tact. 

For example, a certain teacher on entering a new 
school in the fall, learns that five or six of the 
larger boys have been talking on the street about 
whipping him out, in case he gets "cute.'' If this 
teacher allows his pupils to find out in any way 
whatever that his mind is bothered about It; If he 
gets up before the school and attempts to make a 
speech calling attention to the gossip, he will there- 
by show very little tact and the offending pupils 
will most surely cause him more trouble. 

On the other hand, suppose that, sometime when 
he is with the boys, without any evidence of anx- 
iety, he incidentally remarks, "I see no need of 



Introductory Course xxiii 

trying to correct pupils by whipping them. People 
have nearly always treated me justly because I 
have dealt fairly with them." This is using tact. 
The boys will not annoy this man ; they will respect 
him. 

So with hundreds of cases. Having each instance 
worked out in detail, the teacher may determine 
the minute application of good methods. In this 
way he can avoid harmful schemes and employ 
only tactful plans. 

It is the ignorant teacher who is untactful; it is 
the wise and well-educated teacher who is tactful. 
By well-educated here, is meant educated in proper 
discipline. A teacher may be a good scholar and 
yet be poorly trained in controlling a school. 

The teacher who is well trained in matters of 
discipline does not look upon the many so-called 
puzzling circumstances as problems at all, because 
they so readily fit into his system of knowledge that 
he knows at once how to prevent prospective dif- 
ficulties. 

There will never be a day in which you will not 
use the ideas in this Course, consciously or uncon- 
sciously, in one way or another. The ideas pre- 
sented are fundamental. 

There is only one more thought the author wishes 
to leave with you in this Introductory Course 
before taking up the instructions in the regular 
Course. That is this : a child is influenced more by 
those teachers whom he likes and admires than by 
those whom he dislikes and who antagonize him. 



xxlv Practical School Discipline 

Therefore, It Is hoped that each teacher will begin 
the reading of this Course with a strong conviction 
and a firm determination to gain from it a means 
of getting the child's confidence, which will enable 
him to be a power for good in guiding young lives 
aright. 

No teacher has attained the greatest joy in his 
profession until he has received from boys and 
girls letters of overflowing thanks for past help- 
fulness. And every teacher will realize this joy 
who conducts his school In a rational way and who 
learns methods by means of which he can place 
discipline upon the natural basis of confidence. 

When you have learned the relation of your 
own conduct to discipline and the relation of your 
school to discipline; when you have come to realize 
the real province and true end of .discipline ; when 
you have completely learned the great fundamental 
and universal principles of discipline which work 
toward this ideal end and finally when you have 
learned to apply these principles to the dozens of 
concrete, typical cases with which you will always 
be confronted in the school-room, then you will be 
in possession of knowledge that will not only cause 
you to be sought for by school authorities, to teach 
in better schools at far better remuneration, but it 
will enable you to do infinitely more for boys and 
girls, thus making life itself better for yourself and 
others. 



Introductory Course xxv 

"What we need more than better brain Inher- 
itance IS a better and more scientific set of rules for 
developing the brains that we have, and such rules 
of procedure should be made the common property 
of all who are In any way related to rearing and 
educating children." ^ 

^McKeever, Psychologic Method in Teaching, p. 329. 



Confidence 

Confidence, that basis of control 
which is necessary in dealing with 
a youth who is physically too big 
to whip, is the best basis for 
dealing with a child or adult of 
any age, — R, C, B, 



PART ONE 



The Teacher 

SOMEONE has truthfully said, **Without a 
teacher there can be no school." It is a 
university when a great teacher, like Mark 
Hopkins, sits on a log with the lad, James 
A. Garfield, and pours forth his store of knowl- 
edge for the eager mind of the backwoods boy. 
All other elements of a school may be absent, ex- 
cept the teacher, who as a living fountain of knowl- 
edge interests the mind of the lad because he 
possesses those qualifications that are found in the 
true teacher. The vital factor of the school — ^be 
it the humblest one room school; the best one room 
school; a village school or the many roomed high 
school in the metropolis of the land — the vital and 
all-important factor is the teacher. The teacher 
is the inspiring force in the school room, bringing 
light and hope and accomplishing more by influence 
over the children than by any other means. 

The Teacher as a Leader 

The teacher must be a leader — a true leader — a 
leader in social ethics, in private morals, in charac- 
ter-building, in religion, in fact in all that goes to 

27 



28 Practical School Discipline 

make life worth while. This seems almost too 
much to demand of the teacher but it should be 
expected nevertheless, for it is not exaggeration to 
say that the teacher's work is the greatest of all 
tasks. His clay is God's chosen material. Every 
great work needs a controlling brain and a true 
heart and it is to be expected that God's greatest 
work needs them in a superlative degree. If they 
are absent, the teacher is like the dead body with- 
out the vital spark. If the school is without the 
vital spark — the teacher — even though all else be 
present, the best and most lasting results are im- 
possible. The cry of the hearts of the children is 
that they be instructed and nourished and, finally, 
sent into the world fired with a zeal and purpose 
that will prompt them to the most heroic efforts in 
the world's work. 

It is the dream of every child to worship some 
hero, to be held spell-bound by some great life — a 
life that possesses some traits that appeal to him. 
The teacher must be the hero; the teacher must 
embody these traits. The child upon finding such 
a teacher will do his bidding gladly, will start on 
any mission at his request, and will be proud to 
serve the dictates of a master-will — a will influ- 
enced by the Divine will. How many men) and 
women will admit that all the good that is in them 
and the usefulness they manifest, they owe to the ex- 
ample and teaching, or to the memory of some 
sainted teacher — a teacher who consecrated himself 
to God, thereby finding his place and wielding his 
influence over child life for good. 



The Teacher 29 



Though the teacher's task seems to be the most 
difficult, after all its importance makes it the great- 
est and best, and what better or higher work is 
there than to help children and young men and 
women to a clearer vision of truth, to a nobler 
sense of duty, to encourage and inspire to higher 
ideals and motives of life, that are bounded only 
by eternity? It is the teacher, who at his best, 
stands between the child and the various expe- 
riences that await him. The teacher, from his 
larger store of knowledge, directs the child to- 
wards, and introduces him to, those forms of ex- 
perience which are especially adapted to bring out 
and develop the element of perfect control. 

Two teachers may use the same mechanism of 
methods — the one may fail and the other succeed. 
They may be using the same system of marking 
and grading, rewarding, and reporting to parents, 
still the one fails while the other succeeds. Their 
environments, too, may be the same. The failure 
of the one is to be sought in the teacher, so too, 
is the success of the other. The vital need is the 
proper qualification of the teacher. 

"The responsibility of the schoolmaster does not 
end when the boy leaves school any more than the 
responsibility of the ship-builder ends on the day 
of the launch. Each is commissioned to construct 
a seaworthy vessel, competent to sail either in calm 
or in stormy seas, and each neglects his duty if he 
is content merely to build up a fairly handsome 



30 Practical School Discipline 

structure which will glide gracefully off the ways 
and keep afloat until the crowd has dispersed." ^ 

Purpose of Teaching 

Perhaps, no more important question should the 
teacher ask himself than this, "Why am I teach- 
ing?" Is it because a brother or sister or parent 
or friend has taught or is teaching, or because he 
must earn a livelihood to support himself or fam- 
ily, or because he thinks he loves children, or en- 
joys instructing, or glories in power, or believes 
he has ability as a disciplinarian, or considers the 
work of teaching easy, dignified and above re- 
proach, or the day short, giving time for other 
pursuits; or is it because he considers teaching a 
stepping stone to some other life profession, or, 
as is the case with too many women, employment 
to tide over the period between graduation from 
the high school and matrimony; or that he feels 
he is capable of no other work and is teaching 
because he believes himself small and fitted for 
doing a small work; or, does he believe that there 
is in teaching an opportunity to accomplish great 
good and to be of valuable service to mankind? 
There may be some other motive or motives that 
induce the teacher to undertake his work, but his 
should be the most worthy purpose. No teacher 
can expect to do his fullest measure of service and 
gain that contentment and happiness, that come to 
the good teacher, if his motive or motives for 

^Welton and Blandford, Principles and Methods of Moral 
Training, p. 173. Warwick and York. 



The Teacher 31 



teaching are not the noblest and best. If any 
teacher takes up the profession of teaching — the 
art of arts — his must be a true aim to be of service 
to mankind. No teacher can successfully control 
those under his care and teaching, unless he be- 
lieves that his work is the most vital. His heart 
and interest must be in his work; otherwise, it is 
his duty to leave the teaching profession. 

Preparation 

A requisite of the teacher thatj cannot be over- 
looked is the ability to teach. It is an unmistak- 
able preface to teaching to have the proper desire 
to teach. It is to be hoped that the day is not far 
distant, when all teachers must have a normal 
training of not less than one year, and that every 
Normal School be required to cultivate the natural 
qualities most essential to teachers. Every student 
entering a Normal School should satisfy his In- 
structors that he possesses superior ability in his 
chosen profession. The Normal School should be 
required to recommend, without exception, to other 
fields of activity, all those who after a sufficient 
time In the school do not promise to qualify as 
teachers of ability. One does himself great Injus- 
tice to enter a profession for which he Is not by 
nature and by training qualified; and a far greater 
injury Is done those who come under his instruction 
if he is not a natural and trained teacher. 



32 Practical School Discipline 

Scholarship 

Without a doubt, a most important requisite 
of the teacher is good scholarship — a thorough 
knowledge of the subjects to be taught. His knowl- 
edge must be not only thorough, but fresh. He, 
too, must be a broader student of the subjects he 
teaches than one who merely knows the text he is 
using. It is evident that a teacher cannot teach 
more than he knows, and often the keen mind of a 
pupil leaves the realm of the text-book and legiti- 
mately inquires into the depths of knowledge. He 
may embarrass the unprepared teacher, or the 
teacher whose knowledge of the subject is no broad- 
er than the text. The teacher's preparation must 
not be superficial, it must be like a fountain — ever 
fresh and flowing, connecting that which has been 
passed over and that which is to come. This is 
an essential element of successful instruction, but 
many cannot see v/hy it should influence discipline. 

The teacher who is a deep and inexhaustible 
fountain of knowledge wins the confidence of his 
pupils, and whatever increases confidence decreases 
the necessity of imposed discipline and control, and 
it is true that whatever decreases the confidence of 
the pupils in the teacher increases the necessity for 
outer control. Confidence in the ability and prep- 
aration of the teacher is the basis of ready obe- 
dience. It is the element that begets a prompt and 
cheerful yielding of the pupil's will to the will of 
the teacher. 



The Teacher 33 



The teacher should never cease to be a student. 
Though he thinks himself thoroughly educated, he 
should always go over the material which he in- 
tends to teach; to this, he should add a wide range 
of reading outside of the lesson proper, but bear- 
ing upon the lesson. In this way he will be able 
to give to his pupils more than is found in the 
lesson. The teacher who unceasingly pursues such 
tactics in the preparation of his work will arouse 
interest in his classes and interest will secure atten- 
tion which in turn will produce diRgence in study. 
It is a self-evident principle, that interest on the 
part of the teacher will produce interest on the 
part of the pupil and interest will promote appli- 
cation and progress. Many a teacher who has 
been otherwise weak in the ability to discipline 
properly, has easily controlled large classes by the 
interest he has manifested in his work, because he 
was accurate and full in his instruction. 

As a Student of Nature 

Aside from the teacher's thorough preparation 
and knowledge of the subjects he teaches, he must 
be well versed in other matters. No teacher can 
fulfill the measure of his calling, unless he is a 
lover and student of Nature. This may be difficult 
for the teacher within the confines of a large city. 
However, no city is so large, that all phenomena 
of Nature are shut out and whatever means are at 
hand, should be used and thoroughly understood. 
Some tiny park, or well kept front yard, even a 
stray bird, a sparrow, the rain, the clouds, and 



34 Practical School Discipline 

the snow flakes are Nature's property, and where 
Is the teacher who should be unlearned in any of 
these subjects? For the teacher whose happy lot 
it is to teach In the rural districts or villages, It 
would be a shame indeed, if he did not know the 
every pulse beat of Nature. Could there really be 
a teacher who could not control a large band of 
boys and girls, if he were always ready to expound 
the secrets of the forest, of the seasons, of the air, 
and put life and breath into all the vast out-of- 
doors and her varied phenomena? 

It IS almost a necessity that every teacher should 
have studied psychology In his preparation for 
teaching; still the author has been in states where 
there are no laws concerning this requirement for 
teachers ; there are scores of teachers who have not 
even read one text in psychology. 

Many have been the definitions given of psy- 
chology, but in the end they do not differ seriously. 
Since psychology is the interpretation of human 
nature, the admission must be made that every 
teacher should have a clear knowledge of the sub- 
ject. Psychology will not produce a teacher, it is 
true, but teachers are compelled to study and to 
know human nature and the laws governing it, so 
that -common sense methods may be developed. 
The study of psychology is usually involved in all 
discussion of methods. The teaching process in- 
volves the mind of the child and it is reasonable to 
demand that the teacher should know the main out- 
lines of modern psychology. 



The Teacher 35 



Without further argument, It Is apparent that 
a clear and comprehensive knowledge of psychol- 
ogy is necessary for the teacher. Not alone should 
the teacher have an understanding knowledge of 
psychology, but he should read some good texts 
on psychology and Its allied branches every year. 

Child Study 

No teacher, then, should consider himself edu- 
cated or prepared to teach who has not given 
himself some preparation through child study, this 
greatest of all school subjects, which Is simply 
genetic psychology practically applied. This sub- 
ject is new, and at best, the teacher who has care- 
fully studied it will know too little. Still there is 
no excuse for the teacher who does not know some- 
thing about the following phases of the psychology 
of children: the child's soul or mind, acting as 
memory. Imagination and reason; the chief facts 
concerning the child's affections, ambitions, motives 
and ideals; adolescence — physical, mental and 
moral phases; relations to other children and 
elders; his sense of humor and responsibility; his 
moral obligations; his views concerning himself, 
society, and the local community; his views of 
Nature; the principles of child growth; the normal 
height and weight of children; the common defects 
of children as weak eyes, defective hearing, aden- 
oids, spinal curvature and other ailments that at- 
tack childhood; the child's likes and dislikes and 
all the activities that most interest him. 



36 Practical School Discipline 

No sensible teacher will undertake to teach the 
child a new subject until he understands just what 
the child can do. Then it is an evident conclusion 
that the process of teaching can be elevated above 
the plane of a haphazard undertaking to that of a 
systematic science by the teacher who has studied 
the child In his manifold complexities. It follows 
then that a teacher's preparation at its best is not 
complete until he has a workable knowledge of 
child psychology. 

Reading 

The teacher's preparation is not complete with- 
out the reading of good books. Every true teacher 
is a student, and to make it possible to remain a 
student he cannot neglect reading good books. 
Reading the best books in every field of the teach- 
er's work, and even in many other fields for the 
purpose of gaining new knowledge is a requirement 
of the teacher that should not be overlooked. In 
reading for pleasure and recreation, care must be 
exercised in choosing reading material. Only the 
best should be selected by the teacher and that 
which will give the most aid to his work. 

The teacher must be a careful reader; he should 
not hasten through a book, just to be reading. Im- 
portant passages should be marked. Whatever is 
of use to the teacher should be correlated to his 
work to add more to the subject taught. The 
author in all his reading, even in fiction, has made 
use of this method — marking all important pas- 
sages and quotations as he read; then, in the back 



The Teacher 37 



of the book, he constructed a list of pages where 
each passage or quotation was to be found. Fol- 
lowing the number of the page in his index, he put 
a brief note, or sometimes only a word to explain 
the nature of the passage. To illustrate: quota- 
tions or passages of general interest were marked 
(general) ; a passage bearing upon history, marked 
(history), etc. When he sought some thought or 
passage upon a certain subject, it was easy to look 
to the "homemade'* index of the books read and 
hastily locate such information. 

Reading for a Purpose 

To the teacher books are companions. He 
should go to them in time of need. They will give 
assistance. For recreation they will afford rest, 
and for information they will prove a never-ending 
source. Every book the teacher reads, should be 
read for a purpose. It is a good plan to discuss a 
book read with a friend or one who has read it 
and is interested in the line of thought treated. 
Fiction usually portrays some strong character 
types, as well as weak character types; these make 
excellent themes for talks on moods and kindred 
issues. The wise teacher is always ready to cite 
some good character study or tell some interesting 
tale or anecdote bearing upon the subject being 
studied and taught. When interest lags on a dreary 
day, or when the entire school seems to have the 
"blues" — and every teacher knows that there are 
such times — he can save the situation and avoid 
embarrassment by narrating some interesting story. 



38 Practical School Discipline 

Fiction abounds in character portrayals, anecdotes 
and stories. These can be marked and indexed as 
to kind as explained above. 

The question as to what kind of books a teacher 
should read may arise. There can be no harm in 
reading every type of book — books that bear upon 
every phase of life. However meager a teacher^s 
income may be or uncertain the place of his abode, 
he should have a library. The word library does 
not mean that he must have a hundred or more 
books. How many great men have had only a 
Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, and perhaps a book or 
two .of poems, and yet owned a library far more 
valuable than is often possessed by the indiscrimin- 
ate booklover! A few books well read are better 
than many unread. 

It may be well to add this precaution. There 
are scores of good books bearing upon method, 
pedagogy and various phases of the teacher's work. 
Books written for the teacher are intended to in- 
form, and not to give exact directions for every 
activity of the teacher. There can be no such book 
as the latter. It is true, every school bears the 
same aspects, and fundamental principles underlie 
the teaching process, but "cut and dried" rules and 
formulae can work only for artificial ends. A good 
book seeks to suggest, and the wise teacher im- 
proves every suggestion. 

Papers and Magazines 

In addition to the reading of good books the 
teacher should read several good papers and mag- 



The Teacher 39 



azines. Here the greatest caution is necessary. 
This is an age of every kind of journalism, much 
of it really dangerous, and frequently the most 
appealing paper or magazine may prove to be the 
most harmful. It is a safe rule to read those pa- 
pers and magazines that have been proven worthy 
by time and use. One good daily is sufficient; in 
its pages the teacher can scan the activities of the 
world. This need not take much time. A few 
minutes each day will be ample. A teacher should 
avoid sensational murder "writeups," robberies and 
articles designed to create curiosity rather than to 
give facts and information. However, the tried 
and conservative daily avoids glaring headlines, 
announcing atrocities of every kind. 

What the teacher should know, is what the 
world is doing in commerce, industry, science, in- 
vention, legislation, discovery, religion, arts, man- 
ufacturing and those great events which shape 
history. The teacher who reads papers and maga- 
zines for the above purpose will be abreast of the 
times. He should read one good teacher's paper. 
There should be no trouble experienced in finding 
one as there are numerous excellent magazines 
published. Yet, care must be exercised, for many 
teacher's papers and magazines are nothing less 
than trash. The editors, like so many business 
men, hope to reap a harvest of money instead of 
following the motive of service to their fellow 
men. A good magazine can not be omitted from 
the teacher's reading. While It Is true, that much 
which appears is written only for the remunera- 



40 Practical School Discipline 



tion; that Is, each issue must be filled and almost 
anything will do, and many of the stories appeal 
only to a class of people who will read only the 
very poorest of literature; still, the teacher need not 
despair in his choice. He must read that journal 
the reputation of which has been established and 
the pages of which are edited by live men and 
women who are discussing live issues. 

In concluding the discussion on the teacher's 
preparation, it is obvious from what has been said, 
that the teacher must always remain a student. 
He must read to learn; he must investigate to 
know; he must delve into Nature to learn, and it 
is not at all absurd for him to study again those 
books which he faithfully studied during his Nor- 
mal School training. 

The Teacher's Morals 

It seems almost unnecessary to say that a teacher 
should be moral. It is an important requisite. Al- 
though the teacher's choice of his profession, his 
ability to teach and his preparation have been dis- 
cussed first, the reader may consider the teacher's 
morality the first requisite. The author cannot 
conceive of a successful teacher, who would possess 
every essential quality, except the quality of being 
moral. It is a foregone conclusion that a teacher 
is supposed to be a moral person. While this is 
true, sad to say there yet remain many teachers 
whose notions of a moral code are crude. They 
violate some of the smallest details of the moral 
code and thereby undermine their success, to say 



The Teacher 41 



nothing about lessening the service they are at- 
tempting to render to mankind. It is not too rad- 
ical to say that a teacher, above all other profession- 
al people must be moral. His Idea of a moral code 
must not be vague; It must not contain conflicting 
ideas. He, above all, must have definite notions 
concerning morals. It Is true that the term Is too 
generally misused. Many teachers attempt to teach 
morals in such a way that the pupils have altogeth- 
er a wrong Idea of ethics and consequently, in 
their daily lives are doing many things that are 
immoral, still believing that they are shunning that 
which is not right. 

It is the purpose of the following discussion to 
set the teacher right on what the term **moral" in 
its strictest sense includes; and what constitutes a 
breach of morality will be clearly set forth. For 
many years educators have been examining the 
moral requisites in a teacher, and there can be no 
doubt as to the correctness of these Ideas. No 
attempt will be made to generalize, but specific and 
concrete ideas will be presented. In other words, 
what is immoral will be discussed in such plain 
terms that the teacher can easily frame for himself 
a workable moral code. 

Meaning of Moral 

At the outset, it will be well to explain the term, 
moral. Specifically, to be moral is to act in ac- 
cordance with the laws of right. At once, the con- 
flicting question arises: May not what one consid- 



42 Practical School Discipline 

ers right another consider wrong? But, this is not 
a difficult question. It is not what one person or 
another may think about it; it is what the results 
will be. The past points unmistakably to the 
results of all that has been done. In the dictionary 
of the past can be found the record of the results 
of every action. Have the results been beneficial 
and serviceable to mankind, then the action was 
moral; if the opposite, then the action was im- 
moral. Without further explanation, those actions 
that injure the individual or society will be re- 
garded as immoral. 

It is granted that a teacher should not become 
intoxicated, or fight, gamble, visit places of doubt- 
ful character, associate with persons whose charac- 
ters are questionable, violate the law in any way, 
break the Sabbath, swear, or blaspheme, cheat, lie 
or be guilty of lewd conduct. These are immoral 
acts. There is no question as to their nature. They 
are wrong. Still the author has met teachers who 
committed some of the above wrongs. At a cer- 
tain board meeting a young man was asked to 
present his resignation, because he was proven 
guilty of a grossly immoral act. It is hard to 
understand why any teacher should even be guilty 
of minor wrongs, much less, any of the larger 
offenses against the moral code. It is to be hoped 
that this book will seldom fall into the hands of 
any teacher who is so base as to be guilty of a 
wilful wrong. 



The Teacher 43 



It is true that many questionable actions in 
which men and women indulge themselves, are by 
them, not always considered wrong. While this 
may be the case, it becomes necessary to inquire 
what influence such actions may have or what the 
results may be. If evil alone can be traced back to 
such actions, or results that are damaging, then 
such actions must be conceded to be wrong, and 
therefore immoral by anyone, however ardent an 
advocate of the questioned actions he may be. 

Now, the application of the above principle to 
some concrete actions, that are much disputed as to 
whether they are wrong or not, must tend to satisfy 
the most doubting mind. // injury can he shown 
as the result of any action, that action must then he 
wrong. All must agree to this. Then, the discus- 
sion must lead to the results of these disputed 
actions. The first of these under consideration will 
be smoking. Every teacher can recall an instance 
where some boy worshiped a certain man because 
he found in him all those attributes that make a 
true man, except that the man smoked. But the 
boy held him as a hero and because the man 
smoked, he believed there could be no harm in it. 
The influence of the man induced the boy to smoke. 
The moulding of a human life is the most impor- 
tant work in the world, and if this book can say 
something that will cause a teacher to feel a keener 
responsibility in his work and life than ever before, 
in the fulfilling of his most important position, then 
it will not have been written in vain. 



44 Practical School Discipline 



Consider Weakness of Others 

The teacher may argue that no harm came to 
him from smoking because he smoked moderately, 
and no harm can come to the boy if he will be 
moderate. But, the teacher cannot insure this in- 
fluence of his action. Every sensible teacher must 
admit that there are not a few instances where 
positive harm has come to smokers. At this point 
it is well to say that the pipe, the cigar, chewing 
tobacco, and the exceptional snuffing of tobacco, are 
all related closely to the cigarette, which gets most 
of the blame for the harm done by tobacco. They 
are all evil and their use is immoral. That no 
teacher may be in doubt as to whether smoking a 
cigarette, a cigar or a pipe, or chewing and snuff- 
ing tobacco have evil results, it may be advisable to 
call attention to actual records of many concrete 
cases; and cases in which much harm has been suf- 
fered are not isolated, but are generally distribut- 
ed. The records of any city superintendent of 
Schools will reveal scores of cases of boys whose 
minds have been weakened, whose muscular organ- 
isms are shattered, whose nervous systems are 
irresponsive and beyond the boy's control, in fact, 
whose entire lives are wrecks, because they indulged 
in the use of tobacco. Every user of tobacco, at 
first, is a moderate user, but the evil habit leads to 
demoralization and excessiveness. Any juvenile 
judge can cite many instances of boys who were 
brought into the juvenile court, because their minds 
were depraved and their passions all out of re- 



The Teacher 45 



straint, because the use of tobacco had had its evil 
effect upon the boys' minds. If the reader will 
concede that some evil comes from the use of to- 
bacco, then the argument is complete; for any ac- 
tion that necessarily has evil results is wrong, 
therefore, immoral and the teacher has no right to 
perform that act. 

Gossiping 

No one questions the fact that gossiping and its 
attendant indulgence, loafing, are evils. Neverthe- 
less, teachers are too prone to indulge themselves, 
thereby profoundly influencing their school asso- 
ciates in no good way. It should be above every 
teacher to gossip about anyone. When the time 
comes to report an insubordinate or bad pupil to 
the superintendent or to the board of education, 
the facts should be told and no more. The teacher 
— man or woman — has no right to report the evil 
of one pupil to another pupil or to patrons or 
parents, even to members of his or her immediate 
family. A safe rule to follow, is this : "If one can 
say nothing good about anyone^ say nothing at 
all." This brings up the question, can a teacher, 
with propriety, gossip about other teachers, neigh- 
bors, patrons and parents? No. It is degrading. 
Avoid it. The city club, the social gathering, the 
proverbial "husking bee," the quilting, or "gather- 
ing" of any kind is too often the hotbed where 
gossip thrives. A teacher cannot afford to share 
in it. Better than take part, keep silent. It is bad 
enough to* listen. 



46 Practical School Discipline 

Association with Loafers 

Many a man teacher has thought in order to be 
a good mixer, he must be friendly, or social and 
linger with the drug store crowd, or stop at the 
street corner — where usually the loafers congre- 
gate — to take part in the conversation. Not al- 
ways, but generally the topic of conversation is 
idle gossip, or worse than that "smutty" stories 
are being told. To listen is immoral; to indulge 
is worse. But, should the teacher pass by without 
even so much as noticing the crowd? By no means. 
He should cultivate the good will of all, even of 
the street corner gangs. Then what must he do? 
He can give a friendly greeting and make a pleas- 
ant remark, turning the tide of conversation to- 
ward right channels. 

The story is told of Ulysses S. Grant, that when 
he was but a boy, he came one evening into one of 
the grocery stores of his home town, Galesburg, 
Ills., and soon after entering, heard one of the 
loafers say, he would tell a certain story if there 
were no women in the store. The idler craned his 
neck and asked if there were any women near. At 
this point, the youthful Grant said, "No, but there 
is a gentleman present.'' The story was not told. 
The writer recalls a superintendent of schools, who 
attended a Men's Church Banquet and told such 
offensive stories that even men, who before thought 
little about telling an objectionable story, were dis- 
gusted. The influence of this superintendent was 
so extensive that he led many others to tell evil 



The Teacher 47 



stories. The boys of the entire school, as a 
consequence, were addicted to this vicious habit. 
Many of them admitted to the writer the evil hab- 
it, and pointed to the superintendent as the one 
who had influenced them to do what they consid- 
ered evil and immoral. 

Further admission from the boys revealed that 
many of the girls told shockingly offensive stories, 
and that some of the boys followed the evil stories 
by the evil actions suggested. All because one man 
did not have the moral stamina required of a 
decent teacher and superintendent. To conclude, 
no teacher — man or woman — can afford to gossip, 
to talk about anything, except that which the most 
refined and exacting mind may hear without crit- 
icism. 

There can be no question as to the impropriety 
of idle gossip and bad stories, but there may be 
included the so-called "yarn," and attempts at 
humor designed to create laughter at the expense 
of a friend on account of unavoidable defects, af- 
fected speech, "smart" expressions, and the like. 
To the average child the above deviations from 
the natural manner of language is repulsive. There 
are teachers who have the happy characteristics of 
being humorous and can employ that trait to good 
advantage but it should not be attempted, if it 
causes an auditor pain. The teacher should use 
only good English; that is, pure English which 
will serve the teacher who is inclined to indulge in 
trivialities of speech. 



48 Practica l School Discipline 

Slang Expressions 

It is needless to say that a teacher should not 
swear or use blasphemy. But how disgusting it is 
to enter a school-room where the mistakes of the 
pupils are corrected by "gracious," "my land," 
"gee," and scores of other useless words that are 
classed as slang. It is not unreasonable to say that 
such words are nearly as bad in the school-room 
as the vilest blasphemy is outside of the school- 
room. Pure English, with not an unnecessary 
word, is beautiful. It excludes slang and blas- 
phemy. Again, the teacher should use only pure 
English in the school-room, and more than that, 
outside of the school-room, in his every-day con- 
versation. 

Deception 

It is a well established fact that everyone should 
be truthful, but to the teacher this is all-important. 
This does not imply merely that the teacher must 
tell no falsehood but he must, also, act no false- 
hood. There are teachers who never tell a lie, but 
their actions often convey untruth; such a teacher 
cannot expect his pupils to be truthful in word or 
deed. Closely allied to this is the common fault 
of deception. No teacher can afford to deceive his 
pupils. If he has promised his pupils somethng, 
he should see that they get it. If some unavoid- 
able occurrence prevents this, it becomes necessary 
that the teacher should explain the situation. 
Truthfulness and frankness on the part of the 
teacher will beget the same on the part of the pupil. 



The Teacher 49 



Associations 

May a young man or woman who is teaching, 
associate frequently with the opposite sex? No one 
will attempt to deny that he or she may to a 
limited extent. Evil results will follow when the 
association becomes too frequent or too conspicu- 
ous, even though it is what the average young 
American calls "just for a good time." If these 
young teachers are teaching in a high school, they 
will sow the seeds of free-for-all courtship in their 
classes. Wise high school teachers, and very often 
the upper grammar grade teachers, know that this 
will surely harm the better interests of work and 
progress, that it will also breed the abominable 
habit among the pupils of keeping late hours and 
being on the streets too much. Association with 
the opposite sexes among high school pupils is 
often romantic and beautiful and cannot be con- 
demned. It is not our purpose to object unquali- 
fiedly to this practice but safety and common sense 
must be practiced, and at no time can a teacher 
afford to act with more discretion than in his asso- 
ciations. The married teacher is relieved of this 
caution, but even his associations and relations with 
his lady teachers, mothers and often older pupils 
must be carefully guarded and made only business- 
like. 

This introduces the question of the kind of 
associates of the same sex a teacher should allow 
in his company. The maxim, ''The kind of com- 
panions one has will reveal, one's character" an- 



50 Practical School Discipline 

swers the question. A teacher must ignore no 
one, but only those people whose characters are 
above reproach should become his companions. 
It is true, a teacher will, very often have question- 
able pupils in his classes. Here the attitude should 
be plainly missionary. Every effort should be 
made to improve the pupils' conduct and thereby 
reform their lives. Sometimes, it is wise to have 
very objectionable pupils removed permanently 
from the school. Their influence on the other 
pupils may overbalance the good done in saving 
them. 

Example 

The effect of example upon the pupils Is remark- 
able for no one can doubt but that example strong- 
ly influences standards of morality. In like manner 
the effect of the teacher's life in establishing higher 
or lower standards of morality is Influenced by the 
associates which he selects from the masses. A 
teacher should select such associations and compan- 
ions that his pupils will be influenced for the high- 
est possible good. A teacher should make It a 
positive rule never to associate with any one whose 
companionship would cause an unwholesome Influ- 
ence upon any of his pupils. The opportunities of 
the teacher are large in the selection of his society. 
He Is In line to choose the best; It Is open to him. 
He should choose to be a part of the highest and 
best society and then should make It his province, 
his duty and privilege to help mould and shape the 
social standards, and do all he can to uplift and 



The Teacher 51 



better the lives of those with whom he comes in 
contact. Speaking of the child, Arthur Holmes 
says: "Imitation Is his most universal instinct. 
What he sees others do he will do naturally and 
unthinkingly. It Is as futile to teach honesty and 
to act dishonestly before a child as it is to heap 
water in a sieve. The nervous mechanism of the 
child is as hopeless and as helpless as a wireless 
receiver to the influence of Hertzian waves.'* ^ 

The teacher should not neglect those who are 
worthy, but poor. Among them he may find his 
best associates and friends. He should not seek 
to escape the responsibilities that will accompany 
his dealings with the less desirable elements of 
society; he should look down upon and ignore 
none; he should touch elbows with those who 
are his intellectual superiors and surpass him in 
strength of character; he should not lower himself 
by stooping to that which is below the moral stan- 
dard, but in association with the masses he must 
elevate them, and lead them forward, ever remem- 
bering, that as he points to a standard moral code 
as a sign board, he himself must lead the way. 

Idleness 

"Idleness leads to vice," is a truth that the 
teacher should ponder who spends his Saturdays 
and Sundays, and his summer vacations In idleness, 
spending what he has earned during the winter. 
Work is honorable. It is commendable for a 



1 Principles of Character Making, p. 297. Lippincott. 



52 Practical School Discipline 

teacher to labor during the summer vacation. He 
may go to the Summer School, but if he does not 
do so, he should find other work. The so-called rest 
at summer resorts and the sea-side may mean only 
idleness and evil. The teacher whose life is worth 
while will have no time to waste on Saturdays. 

Three of the most disputed social activities 
are dancing, card playing and pool including bil- 
liards. Much has been said as to the rightness 
and wrongness of these actions and still doubt ex- 
ists. The very fact that doubt exists should satisfy 
the teacher that he cannot indulge in them, and still 
do the greatest amount of good in his community. 
It may not be that dancing in itself is wrong, but 
the past unmistakably gives evidence of the fact 
that evil attends the dance. The modern dance is 
disgusting to say nothing about its evil influence. 
The author is a promoter of aesthetic dancing. 
Such recreation properly supervised possesses great 
value. Dancing as a part of physical education, 
under a competent director, is quite another thing 
from the social or public dance to which hundreds 
of young people go, not for physical education, to 
be sure, but for worse than idle pastime. The 
teacher must carefully discriminate here. He should 
shun the social and public dance. 

Perhaps less dispute attends card playing as an 
evil. It is conceded as such by all right thinking 
persons. Every one knows how easily gambling 
results from card playing. There are numbers of 
cases on record of lives wasted and crimes com- 
mitted over the card table as well as in pool and 



The Teacher 53 



billiard rooms. Cards, pool and billiards are tools 
of the saloon; they are evil and spread ruin in their 
wake. No teacher who cares for the boys and 
girls under his instruction and guidance will dance, 
play cards, pool or billiards. He, too, will not 
play to excess checkers, chess, dice, or kindred 
games. There are too many good books to read 
from which the teacher can gain inspiration and 
knowledge to waste time playing either of the 
above or any similar games. A word must be 
added relative to gambling or betting. Both are 
evils and have a bad influence upon the lives of the 
young. The wise teacher will refrain from them. 

Intemperance 

Reference has been made to intoxication which is 
intemperance, but intemperance is a much broader 
term and implies much more than getting drunk. 
It is well not to think of intemperance as belonging 
only to the use of intoxicating beverages. Every 
pleasurable activity is liable to be carried to excess. 
Teachers often need relaxation from the weari- 
some routine of school-room duty. When seeking 
rest and relief in legitimate recreation care must 
be taken to avoid excess. 

Even in matters of food and drink, dress and 
social pleasures this caution is needed. The teach- 
er with common sense knows where to draw the 
line. One can be intemperate in many things, al- 
ways to his own harm. In passing, the definition 
of intemperance will indicate just where the 



54 Practical School Discipline 

thoughtful teacher must stop not to become Intem- 
perate. Intemperance is a want of moderation or 
self-restraint; induging of any appetite or passion 
to excess. 

Honesty 

Honesty Is commonly thought of as trust-worth- 
iness in the conduct of business dealings, as oppos- 
ed to fraud and cheating. It is all that and much 
more. It implies sincerity, uprightness, truth, hon- 
or, integrity, justice, chastity, decency, propriety, 
virtue and frankness. The word honesty implies 
much, and there is too great danger that the teach- 
er practice it in Its common meaning only, forget- 
ting that its application is broad. It is very essen- 
tial that he should not overlook any of Its implica- 
tions. A teacher cannot be said to be honest when 
he merely returns a dollar's worth of service for 
a dollar. That does not exactly constitute honesty, 
though it may seem to do so. The teacher who 
shirks a duty, which he should do, because he finds 
it Is not in his province is like the man who did not 
pay his street car fare because the conductor for- 
got to call upon him for his ticket. He argued 
that it was the conductor's duty to call for it but 
honesty demands that he should have paid it. 

A teacher should be sincere; he should do noth- 
ing for effect. All his actions should be genuine, 
arising from true motives. The term upright Is 
indeed vague. In Its usual meaning it signifies an 
adherence to moral principles. It can be easily 
understood and applied, if the teacher will remem- 



The Teacher SS 



ber to admonish his pupils not to do anything 
which he would not do himself. If the teacher 
undertakes to teach a moral principle, he must first 
live it himself and then he will have weight in his 
arguments for righteousness. 

Honor is that trait of character which holds one 
to the practice of all the laws of the strictest moral 
code. The teacher whose integrity cannot be ques- 
tioned is the teacher who has fulfilled, in his life, 
all those demands that are set forth in the laws of 
the Master Teacher. He has lived up to the 
Golden Rule. Justice demands that all shall be 
given their rights. The teacher can do no better 
than to be just to all. When one has decided 
notions of right and wrong upon the basis of re- 
sults in the. lives of his fellows, he has reached the 
exact idea of propriety. Virtue is a broad term, 
but a word that is significant. That life is virtuous 
whose every deed promotes the common good. 

A teacher should not practice Sunday honesty — 
that kind of honesty which works under certain 
conditions and lapses at intervals. Everyone, no 
doubt, is inclined to reach high water marks of 
absolute truthfulness, and must beware of lapses 
into error, even falling below the ordinary stan- 
dards of every day life. The honesty that is com- 
mendable is clean, out-in-the-open honesty that is 
always active, not simply when great issues are at 
stake. No other profession demands honesty more 
than that of the teacher. His attitude here must 
be real, not affected. If there is pretense or sham, 
the first to become aware of it will be the pupil; 



56 Practical School Discipline 

and the effect upon him is that he loses confidence 
in the teacher who should be his model. 

Temper 

The question of temper should not be Omitted 
from a full discussion of a teacher's moral code. 
How often has a teacher boasted to a friend or 
fellow-teacher that he indulged himself in a frenzy 
of temper before his school, thereby "scaring the 
wits out of the pupils" and remarked further that 
the pupils feared him thereafter for a week. Such 
an action on the part of a teacher is almost crim- 
inal. A teacher cannot afford to lower his dignity 
by such methods. While no attempt is being made 
to discuss methods at this point, for that will be dis- 
cussed in following chapters, yet it is the aim to 
point out those immoral actions from which a 
teacher should be free. It is foolish for anyone to 
allow his temper to get away from his control. A 
teacher should cultivate an amiable disposition. It 
is never necessary to permit one's temper to over- 
ride his common sense. 

"When I taught school, there were many times 
when the indifference, stupidity, flippancy, or silli- 
ness of the class brought me to such a pitch of 
rage, that I dared not trust myself to speak. I 
would clutch the arms of my chair, and swallow 
foam until I felt complete self-command; then I 
would speak with quiet gravity. The boys all saw 
what was the matter with me, and learned some- 
thing not in the book." (Phelps.)^ 

^ Bagley, op. cit. p. 42. 



The Teacher 57 



Curiosity 

In passing, It might be well to mention the not 
uncommon fault of meddling. The teacher's prov- 
ince Is the school and all its attendant activities. 
It will not make him more efficient to know the 
common affairs of every family of his school. He 
will be no better off If he knows all the happen- 
ings of the neighborhood, the village or city-block. 
Many times it is necessary for the teacher to re- 
press a pupil who is prone to be a news monger. 
Frequently, teachers plunge themselves into serious 
difficulties by meddling In affairs that do not con- 
cern their school. Such difficulties are unfortunate 
and always weaken the teacher's ability to govern 
his school. 

Questionable Acts 

It has been assumed that all those actions from 
which evil only may result, are contrary to the 
standards of the moral code. Consequently, those 
deeds which the teacher commonly does not consid- 
er as questionable activities will be discussed. No 
lengthy treatment will be given them since common 
sense — the safe standard for the teacher — will 
help decide the correctness of the ideas set forth. 
No teacher can afford, In school or out, to make 
unkind remarks about the poor, the aged, the 
weak-minded, the crippled, the peculiar, the poorly 
dressed, the tramp, the gypsy, the prisoner, or that 
unfortunate whose appetite is beyond his control 
and causes him to become drunken. The teacher is 
an agent who is expected to help, to lift to higher 



r 



58 Practical School Discipline 

planes of life. Frequently, thoughtless teachers 
have joined pupils in jeering at a beggar and there- 
by created a habit in some child of making sport 
of the unfortunate. The author calls to mind the 
elevating influence of a little woman who, when the 
boys pelted a hungry tramp with snow-balls, took 
him into the warm room and shared with him her 
luncheon and sent him on his way happier in heart 
because he had met a kind-hearted woman. Who 
knows but that this act of kindness may have 
helped to turn the tramp from his vagrant life to 
a life of usefulness? A teacher cannot lower his 
standards of life by helping the aged, the poor, the 
weak, the fallen. A good deed is never lost. 

Neatness and Cleanliness 

What is the influence of the teacher — ^man or 
woman-r-whose clothing is untidy, hair and scalp 
unclean, finger nails untrimmed and filled with dirt ? 
There need be no discussion; the prudent teacher 
knows the answer. The teacher who is attempting 
to follow a standard of morals will not allow his 
body to be unclean and unkempt. His attire, though 
it may not be broadcloth or silk, will be neat and 
clean; his teeth will be clean, his finger nails well 
kept, his shoes clean and polished and every detail 
will evidence his careful attention. Such a teacher 
will take active daily exercise, will not forget a 
daily walk, that will lead out to some haunt of 
Nature where a new lesson Is In store for the ob- 
serving teacher. Nature has a lesson for him 
every day of the year. 



The Teacher 59 



It is safe to assume that the teacher who guards 
carefully his actions in the school, out of school, 
in his every day life, and above all when hundreds 
of miles away from home, is a safe teacher. He 
need not give stated lectures on morals. His life 
and deeds will be monitors to the youth under his 
tutelage. Moral education is not knowledge, it is 
life. Therefore, a teacher cannot educate pupils 
by stated and set lessons in morals, if he has none 
himself, but on the other hand, his life can be a 
standard of morals in itself and thus furnish a 
living model for action to those about him. A 
teacher has no right to teach good conduct and 
morals, or any attributes of a moral nature. If he 
is guilty of repeated immoral acts, open or hidden. 
It must be remembered that morality is not in- 
herent, but developed. From this it can be clearly 
deduced that this moral development receives direc- 
tion from the moral life of the teacher. 

The young teacher, who on his first day enters 
the school-room and is face to face, for the first 
time with the responsibility of his profession, casts 
about for a model teacher. He will find many suc- 
cessful teachers whose lives are above reproach 
even some of his own colleagues may be those who 
will influence him for great good. He may be com- 
pelled to look back to a teacher who has been a 
vital factor in his development. However, he is 
young, and Is surrounded by a world of temptation, 
and his searching mind need not go far until it can 
single out a teacher whose life is very questionable, 
but who Is popular, receives a good salary, and 



60 Practical School Discipline 

possibly secures the best school positions. These 
are poor standards by which to measure real life 
and success, but the young teacher wants popular- 
ity, money, and a good position. Real success is 
stable and lasting. The teacher with a question- 
able reputation, will doubtless before the end of his 
career find his proper level. To measure a man by 
his apparent success is not always safe. It is his 
character that counts in the end. Time may be 
necessary in which to estimate moral worth cor- 
rectly, but the effort to truly weigh a person's char- 
acter is well spent. 

The Teacher's Religion 

The inquiring teacher by this time may have 
asked, "What about a teacher's religion?" A 
teacher should know his Bible, be a regular com- 
municant of some church, and a Sunday School 
worker. Fanaticism must be avoided. But the 
sane and mellowing influence of religion has a 
great effect upon character. No teacher should 
make it a practice to inject his religious ideas into 
his school work. His every day life should indi- 
cate his obedience to the Master Teacher. He 
must not attack any religious denomination as that 
is not his province. Some child may be offended 
or over influenced by his views. The tenets of 
every child's church are sacred to him and the 
teacher should not attack them. Often it is argued 
that a teacher should not teach a Sunday School 
class. If the teacher does not find it too great an 



The Teacher 61 



addition to his already heavy work, there can be 
no good reason why he may not teach in the Sun- 
day School. 

It is well to discriminate carefully between a 
moral person and an apparently religious person. 
Too often it is assumed that a pious person is of 
necessity a safe moral guide. Sometimes unfortu- 
nately the teacher who appears religious is not 
morally sound. 

True religion includes an approved morality. 
But, it must be understood that teaching religion 
does not necessarily indicate that good morals are 
being taught. The author does not mean to criti- 
cise the Sunday School, or even the Church — ^they 
are great and effective institutions — ^but they are 
failing to teach morals as they should. The school 
teacher has a great work to do at this point. The 
final admonition to the teacher is, have a standard 
moral code, live it, and in pointing others to it as 
a signboard of life, be sure to heed it always your- 
self. 

Aesthetic Appreciation 

A requisite of the teacher that cannot be over- 
looked is that he must have a love for all that is 
good and beautiful: an aesthetic appreciation. The 
teacher must appreciate and actually participate in 
the noblest, best, and most beautiful which the 
world possesses in song and story, in conversation 
and poem, in landscape and sky, in art and music. 
The sky with floating clouds, or when clear or star- 
bedecked, a silver moon hanging low over a dark 



62 Practical School Discipline 

rimmed horizon, a towering cathedral against a' 
sunset sky, a brook stealing its way across a 
meadow, a mountain torrent, a rainbow, the 
shadow and sheen in the depths of the forest, a 
placid river on its way to the sea, a bird song, a 
meadow, a field of ripening grain, a flower hedged 
roadway, a path through the valley and into the 
depths of a wood where it winds at will among the 
mossy trunks of trees, over tufts of moss, beside 
quiet pools through rustling leaves — all these and 
many more objects in nature hold in store inspiring 
and uplifting lessons of life. No teacher can con- 
template these beauties and not possess a nobler 
soul. Contact with Nature's most beautiful and 
best will strengthen his love for the beautiful and 
will help him to keep the hearts of his pupils at- 
tuned to the helpful sights and sounds that go to 
make up their surroundings. 

The teacher who delights in the beautiful will 
find himself easily winning the interest and atten- 
tion of his pupils. Children are born admirers of 
the beautiful. 

"Constitutionally, he functions aesthetically just 
as really as he does socially, although not to the 
same extent. Very early in his history he mani- 
fests delight in beauty. The nature of these re- 
actions will be explained as we proceed with the 
chapter. Because of them, education calls for the 
development of this aspect of the child's nature, 
and ethical culture demands its moralization. Mor- 
ality is especially concerned with aesthetic develop- 



The Teacher 63 



ment, since there is an intimate relation existing be- 
tween the beautiful and the good." ^ 

No teacher can have an appreciative love for 
all that is beautiful and good and not love chil- 
dren. The most beautiful thing in all the world 
is the unfolding life of a child. Who has not 
stopped by the side of the cradle and pushed aside 
a curl to look upon the face of a sleeping baby, 
whose long eyelashes are sweeping over cheeks 
aglow with beauty, the whole face portraying child- 
hood's charm. The first tottering steps of a child 
are deeply interesting. His gleeful prattle, his 
silver laughter are cheering to the most benighted. 
Could ever a human being think of becoming a 
teacher who does not love children above all else? 

Every teacher should love and appreciate good 
literature and good music, and all that is beauti- 
ful in the arts. Whatever is cultural is aesthetic. 
The beautiful, the true, the good are all aesthetic 
and therefore profitable. Each day the teacher 
should renew and reinspire his soul and life by 
contact with all that surrounds him that is aesthetic. 
He must abhor wrong and love right. His charac- 
ter will then be strong and his life filled with 
success, joy and peace. 

Willingness to Learn 

A requisite absolutely essential to the teacher 
is open-mindedness. He should, of course, be sta- 
ble; he should not be influenced by every theory 

^Sneath and Hodges, Moral .Training' in the School and 
Home, p. 167. Macmillan. 



64 Practical School Discipline 



and Idea that comes to his attention in his associa- 
tions and reading, but he must be ready and wiUing 
to learn. The teacher will grow by experience who 
can say, **I want to learn more", but he will just 
as surely fossilize, if he thinks, "I know it all". 
No mind can grow if It draws its conclusions only 
to be In harmony with those already framed. Some- 
times, a pupil will suggest a thought, or even a 
truth, that has never come to the teacher's atten- 
tion. How much better It Is to welcome the idea 
or truth, and so Inform the pupil, than to ignore 
it even though it is of value just because It came 
from one who is inferior. The barefoot urchin 
may know secrets the teacher has never learned. 

Worry 

The happy quality of mind that shuns worry, Is 
well worth a teacher's cultivation. Worry makes 
inroads into a teacher's health. Sometimes, the un- 
thoughtful teacher concludes that work Is Impair- 
ing health when in truth it Is worry. It Is true, 
many situations need careful consideration, but 
never worry. Worry never yet solved a difficulty. 
Cultivate a happy mood, resolve that where there 
is a will there is a way, and all the school problems 
will seem less difficult after that resolution. 

Attitude Toward Criticism 

Closely akin to worry Is over-sensitiveness to 
criticism. The following anonymous article ap- 
peared in a college paper some time ago. It Is 



The Teacher 65 



apt and contains much truth. " 'Say nothing, do 
nothing, be nothing, then you will escape criti- 
cism', goes an old saying. Could anything ring 
truer? The most maligned men and women are 
those who are doing the most and doing it in a 
conscientious manner. Analyze the person who 
boasts of never being criticised and you will find 
nothing. Some persons, to escape criticism take 
a middle course; first catering toward this side, 
then leaning tov/ard the other. They call it tact; 
it is really moral cowardice. Others allow the 
shafts of criticism to break down their self-re- 
spect, their confidence in their own ability. This, 
too, is the wrong attitude. Criticism is a recog- 
nition that you are of sufficient Importance to 
stimulate remarks from someone and besides, the 
right kind of criticism Is always constructive. 
The other kind, oh, It comes mostly from the class 
who escape criticism." 

While the above is true it needs careful thought. 
It should not be forgotten that criticism Is often 
justly given, and means that the ability of some 
one Is not up to the standard or that they are fail- 
ing to do their best. The teacher however, who 
does his duty as he knows It best, need never allow 
criticism to give him any trouble or worry. It may 
mean only that he Is doing something worth talking 
about. 

Self-confidence 

Some teachers possess all those elements that 
contribute to successful teaching, except self-confi- 



66 Practical School Discipline 

dence. Yet too much of that quality is more dan- 
gerous than helpful. Self-confidence in one*s work 
when the elements of preparation are lacking is 
foolhardy. When a teacher has given himself that 
preparation that he knows Is necessary and has 
done his best to possess the qualities that should 
dominate a teacher, he has a right to have self- 
confidence. Not alone is it necessary that he should 
be self-confident, but It Is highly essential that he 
should show it. He knows what he can do and he 
should expect good results; If he does this he can 
not miss success. Success crowns his work who has 
self-confidence In possessed ability. 

Common Sense 

Too often the teacher Is admonished to practice 
common sense. This Is an Indefinite term and to 
many young and Inexperienced teachers It means 
nothing. Should they wish to practice common 
sense they would not be able to do so, because they 
cannot place a correct construction upon the term. 
The teacher who observed that one of the boys sat 
still In his seat and looked Into space more than at 
his book, and then reprimanded the boy because he 
failed to learn his lesson, did not use common 
sense. Another teacher In the same high school 
observed the same boy, went to him privately and 
inquired in a friendly way. If there could be any 
wrong from which the boy was suffering. He was 
told by the boy that he was worrying because he 
believed he had tuberculosis and furthermore that 



The Teacher 67 



his father mistreated him. This teacher used com- 
mon sense, and also the much recommended ^'tact," 
another indefinite thing. This teacher sympathized 
with the boy and sought to remove the obstacles. 
Success crowned the teacher's efforts. 

Another illustration may serve to explain the 
term, "comm.on sense." The teacher who scolded 
the boys for smoking cigarettes, and thereby won 
their ill will and intensified the habit, did not use 
common sense. i^nother teacher who won the 
confidence and good will of the boys and then con- 
fidentially explained to them the evil results of 
smoking, used common sense and tact. Did he 
succeed in getting all the boys to stop smoking? 
No. Nor is there any tactful teacher who will 
succeed with all, but he persuaded a great many of 
the boys to stop smoking. At this point so many 
teachers fail just because the first effort, or even 
continued effort does not save every boy. They 
condemn their methods and become discouraged. 
An evil as great as smoking cannot be abolished in 
one year. Probably, it cannot ever be entirely 
eradicated, but patience and faithful service will 
finally reach results almost incredible. These Illus- 
trations should serve to explain one concrete use of 
common sense and tact. The observant and thought- 
ful teacher finds instances every day where common 
sense and tact are used to advantage. It Is the 
object of this Course, in the presentation of many 
tactful methods, to increase the teacher's store of 
"Common Sense" plans of discipline. 



68 Practical School Discipline 

Entering the Child's Activities 

It IS, indeed, the discreet teacher who can place 
himself upon the level of the child. There is no 
teacher who can expect to render to the child the 
service due him, if he does not enter into his life. 
With propriety can the teacher be one among the 
children. A boy with the boys or a girl with the 
girls. It is imperative to enter into their interests. 
The suggestion to enter into the lives of the pupils, 
has furnished many a teacher with the means 
whereby he saved the wayward boy or girl. The 
teacher who places himself above the children, 
either in the grades or in the high school, by word 
and action, loses his influence for good and useful 
service. Such a teacher cannot be a true teacher. 
Many of the uplifting truths of his own life, if he 
may possess such, fail to impress his pupils. Chil- 
dren of every school age, love the teacher who 
tactfully enters their activities and games — enters 
them in such a way as to forget that he is a teacher, 
and his pupils subordinates, but as if all are chil- 
dren having a good time. The Chinese sage, 
Mencius, said, "The great man is he who does not 
lose his child's heart." Big boys and girls always 
love and admire the teacher who can enter into 
their sports, games, and athletic activities. It pays 
men teachers to have some knowledge of athletic 
sports. 

Even a woman can do much in promoting athletic 
sports. The benefit is two-fold; first, the health of 



The Teacher 69 



the teacher demands the exercise which athletics 
affords; secondly, the pupils can be much more eas- 
ily controlled by the teacher who enters their sports 
and activities. There is a world of knowledge to 
be gained by entering into the child's life. Needless 
should be the caution that the teacher should not 
allow himself to grow old in spirit. The teacher 
whose years may have reached the half century 
mark can still have "that youthful spirit" and that 
sprightly manner that will fire youth to its fullest 
activity. Such a teacher will never grow really 
old. Of him it may well be said, that he grows 
younger with the years until he reaches eternal 
youth. 

Cheerfulness 

It is often said that childhood is life's happiest 
period. Where then is the teacher who comes in 
contact with child life daily, who cannot be happy, 
youthful and ever ready to bestow the cheerful- 
ness of a helpful life? The happy-minded teacher 
will never pass his pupils anywhere without leaving 
with them a sense of his kindly interest. He knows 
when to enter the child's world to share his joys — 
and his are real joys — when to sympathize with 
him in sorrow. The teacher whose life has become 
bitter, and who no longer can be happy-minded and 
cheerful, should leave the profession. Everywhere 
is needed cheer; no place can be made better by 
gloom, but especially should a companion of chil- 
dren be optimistic. 



70 Practical School Discipline 

Responsibility 

Responsibility is an essential requirement of the 
teacher. He must be absolutely trustworthy. The 
teacher who shoulders his responsibility, will not 
neglect the least part of his work because he be- 
lieves he is underpaid. Should he know that the 
welfare of a child demands his attention, outside of 
school hours, he should not fail to aid the child, 
though It be really no part of his school duties. 
The rights of the pupils will be guarded as sacred 
by the responsible teacher. He, too, will care for 
the property of the school as though it were his, 
and even more so, for he is entrusted with its care. 
The greatest safety for any school is a conscien- 
tious teacher under whom parents can place their 
children for moral, physical and spiritual instruc- 
tions. 

Courage 

To be fearless in the performance of one's duty 
is no easy matter. Least of all for the teacher. 
Often in a community, the school is the only active 
institution, during the school year. Its Influence 
reaches every home in the community through the 
children. Its every activity is discussed by the well- 
meaning, as well as by the unthoughtful and unscru- 
pulous, the latter often criticising without the slight- 
est assurance that they are correct in their views. 
The teacher must stand by with a fearless attitude. 
It is assumed that he has done what he believes to 
be right — his own life being simple and his moral 
standards at least no lower than those of his pat- 



The Teacher 71 



rons. The teacher must possess all the requisites 
of the true teacher to be able to stand against every 
view that may become current. He must even de- 
cide to his hurt in order to maintain the right when 
criticism and censure become slander and false- 
hood. A teacher must be himself, not an imitator. 
His decisions must be firm, yet kind. He must 
constantly hold in view the final end in every action, 
which end is best for the welfare of the child. A 
teacher who is fickle, doubts his ability, hesitates 
between opinions, is swayed by every criticism that 
comes his way, seeks advice from those who are 
not capable of giving it and finally deviates from 
the right, will not succeed. He cannot be fearless. 

Sensible Dressing 

It seems almost useless to say that a strong 
element in the teacher's qualifications is his ability 
to discriminate carefully about his attire. A cer- 
tain grade teacher, who, as far as her principal 
could judge, possessed every attribute that would 
constitute a successful teacher, was wholly unculti- 
vated in her tastes regarding dress. So peculiar 
and often ridiculous was her attire that she became 
the laughing stock of the community and finally her 
pupils, though they respected her, made remarks 
about her appearance. She found her ability to 
control her pupils weakened. Aside from a sensible 
choice of dress, it is not to be overlooked that a 
teacher sets an example for neatness and cleanliness 
when he attends to the careful selection of his at- 



72 Practical School Discipline 

tire and then sees that his person and clothing are 
always neat, clean and well kept. A teacher cannot 
afford to dress so as to draw special attention to 
his clothes. He should follow the dictates of fash- 
ion as long as that is in keeping with good common 
sense. To women- teachers, this is an important 
point. It is to be feared should a woman teacher 
follow every whim of fashion, she would have little 
time left for her actual duties. Plain, sensible 
clothing that allows freedom and ease becomes a 
teacher — man or woman. 

The Teacher's Home 

It is well to say something about the teacher's 
home, or if the teacher is boarding, something 
about his room. His immediate surroundings often 
reflect his personal tastes as clearly as does his 
attire. All eyes are on the teacher and his domes- 
tic policy cannot escape criticism. Not long ago in 
one of the foremost school communities of Ohio 
lived a principal of a high school whose home was 
little better than a hovel. A stranger called there 
one day and found the front yard very untidy, sev- 
eral calves were running loose there, while rubbish, 
such as barrels, broken dishes, tin cans and a profu- 
sion of coal ashes were in evidence. He was greet- 
ed by several children who, even to this lover of 
children, proved almost repulsive. Each child was 
dressed in filthy clothing, with face and hands un- 
washed and the hair matted with dirt. The father 
came next — a principal of a small high school-— 



The Teacher ' 73 



whose appearance was no better than that of the 
children. Instead of neat and cleanly attire, his 
clothing was ragged and soiled, not even put on 
properly. As the stranger spoke to the worthy 
principal he could look into a kind of shed room 
near the house, in which a woman, no doubt the 
mother of the children, was washing. She too, was 
unkempt and unclean. Her surroundings were so 
disorderly and unclean that health was in danger. 
The stranger's curiosity was aroused and by a 
clever investigation he learned that this particular 
high school was notorious, far and near, for its 
rude boys and girls. He learned that just about 
six weeks before his visit, thirteen of the high 
school boys had been before the Juvenile Court for 
various offenses, and that many more should have 
been summoned. This was an enormous percent- 
age out of a possible enrollment of one hundred 
and twenty pupils. Could this principal's untidy 
home and surroundings have played any part in 
this condition? Most certainly. Any teacher who 
will allow himself to live in such a home cannot 
without great injustice be retained as a teacher. 
Just as he allov/ed his surroundings to become so 
wretched he would allow those with whom he daily 
came in contact to become morally wrong. This 
man who cared nothing for the beauty of his home 
and its environment lacked those finer senses that 
make for useful lives. His influence was demoral- 
izing. A teacher's home surroundings and tastes 
are sure Indices to his state of culture and refine- 
ment. 



74 Practical School Discipline 

Work 

No teacher whose labors are to be crowned with 
success and happiness, the results that count, must 
be afraid of work. Work is the secret of success. 
Its example tells. The teacher who can work will- 
ingly and cheerfully and who shows that he is 
happy when he has something to do needs never 
to complain that the pupils do not work. It is 
good for a teacher to give the impression that he 
does home work, studies gladly, is interested in 
every lesson that he hears, and knows his subject 
thoroughly. Such a teacher will have pupils who 
study with zest, who utilize their spare moments 
and above all, pupils who really are interested in 
their work. 

A teacher must not approach any task In a half- 
hearted way, but with all the strength and energy 
he is able to command. Happiness and success and 
a helpful optimism come from active participation 
in life's battles. The individual who likes work, 
likes play, likes to read, loves Nature, and thereby 
finds diversity and recreation In the activities of life 
will not find the work of the teacher too taxing. 
After a hard lesson In mathematics, a real, live 
novel — written by a modern novelist — will often 
rest the mind. 

A walk after a hard day in school is restful. 
The writer recalls a splendid, little, effective teacher 
who after a hard and successful day In the school- 
room would go with her pupils to hunt flowers, 
to row or ride, would often work In the garden. 



The Teacher 75 



sometimes play baseball, and could indulge in a 
snowballing that sent every one home with a feel- 
ing of good fellowship. She had some silver 
threads In her hair and her years numbered more 
than a half century, still her cheeks were ruddy and 
her eyes keen. She was young in spirit and the 
children loved her. Her efficiency as a teacher was 
never questioned. Many are the men and women 
who are making the world better because she 
trained them when they were boys and girls. Work 
interspersed with the proper exercise and recrea- 
tion will not Injure any teacher's health. Worry as 
a rule Is the undermining force at work. The 
teacher who attempts to get along without exercise 
will sometime In his career, though not always at 
first, become a miserable failure. Exercise is nec- 
essary. It should be taken daily In the open air. 
Exercise and open air are two elixirs of youth. 
The teacher needs them. 

The Teacher's Health 

There can be no question about a teacher's 
health being of the greatest importance to effective 
and cheerful work. No fear as to health need be 
experienced by the teacher who takes plenty of 
exercise and gets out into God's great out-of-doors 
for fresh air. There is no excuse for the teacher 
who is cross and mistreats the pupils and scowls at 
their every mistake or mischievous prank, and then 
justifies her attitude by saying,, "I do not feel 
well." It should be an infallible rule with every 



76 Practical School Discipline 

teacher to make no attempt to teach while ill. It is 
far better for a child to miss a day or two of 
school than to be subjected to the rule of a cross, 
peevish, fretful teacher. Only the teacher buoyant 
with good health should be allowed in the school- 
room. Little needs to be said about the many 
chronic diseases which are contagious, such as tu- 
berculosis, and are easily transmitted to the pupils 
by infected teachers. It is a teacher's plain duty to 
keep himself in good health. 

System 

The ability to have order and system in school 
work will go a great way toward making the work 
easier and more effective. Method and order are 
great time savers. A teacher is an architect. For 
every task there must be a plan. Each lesson must 
have its place. Each step its reason. A teacher 
who formulates and plans his work will accomplish 
much more than the teacher who relies upon cir- 
cumstances to point out to him his method of pro- 
cedure. To be careless, haphazard and aimless 
means to fail. 

A teacher can learn a valuable lesson from 
studying any great factory where labor and time 
saving devices are employed. In addition to these, 
every means of system and order are used to secure 
the greatest effectiveness of energy put forth. 
Many an individual has acquired an education in 
spare moments, by putting system into his work, 
and thus saved time and energy which could be 



The Teacher 77 



expended in securing an education. Unsystematic 
school work is a waste of energy. The teacher 
should have a time for every thing, as well as a 
place for every thing. Begin school on time, close 
on time. Regularity will bring good results. The 
slogan of many advertisers is, "Do it now." Time 
lost can rarely ever be regained. 

The prudent teacher will use studied methods — 
methods that apply to the lesson and class at hand. 
He who uses correct methods in the school-room 
will doubtless use right methods in his study, and 
further will practice regular habits in his life out- 
side of the school-room. The regular habits of a 
teacher In all of his activities will always be repro- 
duced in the work of his pupils. 

It Is true, that there are scores of "method 
books" claiming to give needed "directions" for 
every detail of school work. It is foolish for a 
teacher to rely upon such advice. Every so-called 
method is needful and helpful, but a teacher must 
study his class and his lessons and apply just such 
methods as his experience teaches him will secure 
the best and most lasting results. How often can 
one visit certain schools and note the effect of the 
weekly or monthly advent of the teacher's paper. 
Such teachers have no tried methods of their own 
but each week or month they try out methods only 
to find many of them unsuited to their needs. Such 
procedures prevent continuous progress. They are 
like a ship without a rudder; they will finally run 
upon the rocks of failure. 



78 Practical School Discipline 

It is easy for a teacher to develop a narrowness 
in his tastes that forbids him to seek proper varia- 
tion in his work. The more devoted a teacher is 
the more he needs diversions quite disconnected 
from his professional duties. The freshness of 
mind gained by digressions from school routine is 
as necessary as the preparation of lesson material 
itself. 

Discrimination 

The ability to discriminate carefully is one of 
the teacher's most valuable qualities. The discrim- 
inating and analytic mind is most indispensable to 
good teaching. To see things in their proper light, 
to place a fair estimate upon anything or any situa- 
tion, to give due credit where it belongs and re- 
serve an opinion as long as doubt remains, are 
needful qualities of the discriminating mind. Such 
a mind is broad and liberal. The small details of 
life will not over influence such a mind. It Is able 
to discern between the trivial, the common-place, 
and the useful and' valuable In every action. Delib- 
eration is a fundamental antecedent of discrimina- 
tion. The hasty mind jumping at conclusions, be- 
fore every detail has been examined and weighed, 
often plunges itself into confusion. The discrimi- 
nating teacher is able to rid himself of the bondage 
of annoyances and petty grievances and rise above 
difficulties, thereby gaining that magnanimity of 
spirit that leads to achievement and success. 



The Teacher 79 



Judgment 

The ability to form a quick and impartial judg- 
ment and to act upon that judgment is even more 
important than to discriminate without bias. Per- 
haps, it is only another way of saying that one 
should be discriminating. Still, there is this dis- 
tinction: a quick and clear judgment can only be 
reached by a discriminating mind. To lose sight 
of one's own interests or one's self Is a basis for 
rare judgment. It is necessary to lay aside all prej- 
udice to be able to discriminate so as to reach a 
clear and unbiased judgment. 

Concentration 

Concentration of mind and purpose go hand in 
hand with discrimination and judgment. The 
teacher must be able to concentrate his mind upon 
his work so as to get from it its fullest meaning 
and thereby make no mistake in the presentation 
of any subject. To concentrate the mind in every 
instance means a successful completion of every 
task undertaken. It goes without question that such 
qualities In the teacher will make pupils take a 
delight in the thorough preparation of their work. 

Patience 

Patience, unfaltering patience, has won the 
victory for many a teacher. How often has a 
teacher labored hard to present a lesson, only to 
return and find no good results from the effort. 
The teacher may not always be at fault. Some 



80 Practical School Discipline 



child may have grasped every detail, another under 
the same instruction, not even the larger facts; but 
we all know that not all children are equal in the 
ability to comprehend. The conditions that enable 
one to learn may not have been so advantageous 
for another. It is not wise to become ^disheartened 
and scowl over the apparent failure of a child. 
The teacher would fail If the same conditions hin- 
dered him. If the teacher, after being sympathetic 
and taking into consideration the environment of 
the child, then discovers indifference to studies, the 
time may have come for firmer methods, but even 
then patience will go a long way in obtaining re- 
sults. 

The Teacher's Social Life 

Another perplexing matter, hardly avoidable by 
the teacher, but a factor that usually has a marked 
effect upon his work, is his social life. Just how 
far is it safe to enter into the social life of the 
community? Should a teacher share in the social 
life of his patrons? Yes. Carefully discriminate 
how far this social activity may extend without 
harming a teacher's influence. A teacher must take 
interest in the social life of a community, so as to 
harm no one, not even himself, and improve the 
community life about him. Into some homes he can- 
not go, but he must not ignore or look down upon 
such homes. He must show preference to none. 
Otherwise his visits to certain homes will involve 
him in endless gossip. Then, above all, it is a safe 
rule, whenever and wherever he enters social life, to 



The Teacher 81 



say nothing about his pupils, his school work, or his 
patrons. Some unthinking person may repeat what 
he has said, and not intentionally, misconstrue his 
statements, thus causing him trouble and weakening 
his influence. It is safer and far better to make no 
remark at all about any individual if one cannot 
say something good. 

Treating all Alike 

A teacher must be friendly to all, even though 
some are far beneath him socially and others may 
spurn his friendship. His greetings should be the 
same to all. Often a teacher discriminates against 
the outcast and thus earns for himself the reputa- 
tion of being proud. To be friendly to all does not 
mean that one must be an associate of the outcast. 
It is a matter of expediency to treat all alike so 
that one's influence may work for good and the 
uplift of the masses. 

A True Leader 

It is evident from the foregoing requisites of 
the teacher that if he can acquire all the qualities 
set forth, he is a teacher who has himself under 
control and can, first of all, discipline himself — a 
condition that is necessary if the teacher expects to 
control and discipline those under his tutelage. 

"The well-trained man is the man whose mind 
is stored with a fund of varied knowledge which 
he can promptly command when the necessity for 
it arises ; he is the man who can keep his attention 



82 Practical School Discipline 



upon the problem in hand as long as necessary, and 
in the face of distraction; he is, moreover, the man 
who, having paused long enough to see the situation 
correctly and to bring to bear upon it all the rele- 
vant knowledge he possesses, acts thereon promptly 
and forcefully." ^ 

Can he square up to every qualification? If so, he 
will be a true leader and teacher. It may seem dis- 
couraging to be required to measure up to so many 
requisites, but after all they will insure true content- 
ment and happiness — those qualities that come only 
to the really prepared — and lasting success will most 
certainly crown the efforts of such a teacher. 

While it is true and right that every teacher 
should demand his wages, still, it is almost a crime 
for a teacher to measure his services by the amount 
of his remuneration. The true teacher's services 
are rewarded by the good he has done, by the use- 
ful lives that have grown under his beneficent 
teaching, by the services rendered, by men and 
women, who as boys and girls, have felt the in- 
fluence of his life. Such a reward is never ending. 
The good sown in one life will transplant itself 
into another and another long after the teacher 
has received his final reward. The teacher's rec- 
ompense is not measured by dollars and cents, but 
by the good done to humanity. 

Summary 

1. The teacher's is the noblest of all professions. 

2. The teacher's service is a service to mankind, 



^Angell, Psychology, p. 438. Holt. 



The Teacher 83 



moulding the child life, thereby shaping the des- 
tinies of coming generations. 

3. The teacher must have the right motive for 
teaching. His motive must be true service to man- 
kind. Should he not have such a motive, he should 
leave the profession. 

4. The teacher must be thoroughly prepared — 
his knowledge must be fresh and ready for use. 
This will enable him to win the confidence of his 
pupils and lessen the necessity for discipline. In 
other words: 

(a) He must be educated and trained in a 
Normal School, having at least one year of such 
training. A college education, while not absolutely 
necessary, is a very great asset. 

(b) He must be a lover of Nature. That is, he 
should have a profound interest in all the phenom- 
ena of Nature. 

(c) He must be a student of psychology since 
it is a needful adjunct to the teacher's education. 
It is an interpretation of human nature; conse- 
quently, it has value in understanding child life. A 
teacher should read good texts in psychology every 
year. 

(d) He must be a student. He should always 
work over his lessons and read in subjects related 
to the work in hand. 

(e) He must be a reader of good books bearing 
upon the many phases of learning. Fiction and 
poetry are real aids to a teacher's preparation. 



84 Practical School Discipline 

(f) He must not be superficial. If he follows 
slavishly books on method, he is shallow. Such 
books are intended to suggest only. The discreet 
teacher improves by every suggestion. 

(g) He must be a reader of the daily paper, 
the magazine, and the teacher's paper. They are 
a part of his educational equipment. Only the best 
should be read, and they not to the exclusion of 
other literature. 

5. A teacher must possess the ability to teach. 
Ability includes a natural fitness as well as scholas- 
tic preparation. 

6. The first and greatest requisite of the teacher 
Is morality. Its simplest definition shows that it 
deals with the rightness or wrongness of any action. 
Those actions are immoral that are followed by 
evil or demoralizing results. A partial list of 
these follow and should be labeled, *'Don'ts for the 
Teacher." 

(a) Intoxication, fighting, gambling, visiting 
places of doubtful character, associating with per- 
sons whose characters are suspected, violating the 
laws, breaking the Sabbath, swearing, blasphem- 
ing, cheating, falsifying and lewd conduct are im- 
moral acts about which there can be no question. 

(b) The use of tobacco in any form Is immoral. 
This is true, because only evil results follow in 
many cases. 

(c) Gossiping and loafing are evils for anyone. 
The teacher should avoid them. 

(d) The street-corner gang or the low-minded 



The Teacher 85 



crowd are not fit for the teacher's company. He 
should avoid them. 

(e) The so-called social gatherings are often 
hotbeds for gossip. When they are such, men and 
women teachers do well to avoid them. 

(f) *'Smutty" stories, vicious "yarns" and sense- 
less stories as well as slang are objectionable. The 
teacher should avoid them. 

(g) Attempts at humor at the expense of an 
auditor should be avoided. 

(h) Tell no falsehood; act no falsehood. 

(i) Associate only with those whose influence is 
for good. Unmarried teachers cannot be too 
thoughtful as to the extent of their associations, 
with even the best of the opposite sex. It often 
weakens influence and breeds unrestrained "court- 
ing" in the upper grades and the high school. 

(j) A teacher should avoid idleness. Duties 
outside of school hours will be recreative. 

(k) The modern dance, public or private, must 
be avoided by the conscientious teacher. 

(1) Card playing, pool and billiards are im- 
moral. They lead to gambling. A teacher's in- 
fluence may cause someone else to gamble. Check- 
ers, chess, dice, and other "time killers" should be 
practically avoided by the teacher. Use leisure 
time in reading good books, or in out-of-door exer- 
cise. Richer returns will accrue. 

(m) Intemperance includes much. The teacher 
should investigate its province and refrain from 
all intemperancCc 



86 Practical School Discipline 

(n) The teacher must be honest in the strictest 
sense. Honesty implies trustworthiness in deal- 
ings, trustworthiness in business, trustworthiness in 
all other conduct, sincerity, truth, uprightness, hon- 
or, integrity, justice, chastity, decency, propriety, 
virtue and frankness. Each is so patent that it 
needs no discussion. 

(o) A teacher must always hold his temper in 
restraint. 

(p) A teacher cannot afford to meddle in the 
affairs of others. 

(q) A teacher should not make fun of the poor, 
the needy, the weak-minded, the crippled, the aged, 
the peculiar, the poorly dressed, the tramp, the 
gypsy, the prisoner, or even the intoxicated. 

(r) Often a teacher's moral attitude is revealed 
by his attire. Neat and cleanly attire is required 
of a teacher. 

(s) A teacher cannot afford to dress foppishly. 

(t) A teacher's conduct away from home should 
always be as good as when at home. 

7. No teacher can rightfully teach a moral code 
if he is repeatedly guilty of any immoral act, open 
or hidden. 

8. Often an immoral teacher seems successful; 
but his work is unstable and cannot last. No 
young teacher should let such show of success in- 
fluence him in the least. 

9. Morals and religion should not be confused. 
Morality is a condition of religion. It does not 
follow that one who claims to be religious prac- 
tices good morals. 



The Teacher 87 



10. An important qualification of the teacher 
is that he must love all that is good and beautiful. 
He must have an aesthetic appreciation. That in- 
cludes a love for all in Nature as well as the arts 
of man. 

11. A teacher must love children. They are the 
most significant of all God's creations. 

12. No teacher should worry. To do so under- 
mines health. 

13. Do not cease to do good because of criti- 
cism; very often it means that the act criticised 
is worth while. 

14. Common sense, often called tact, is a teach- 
er's much needed qualification. 

15. Every teacher who wishes to accomplish the 
greatest good, will enter into the child's life. Live 
on a level with the child. That means taking part 
in the child's joys and sorrows, his work and play. 

16. Athletic education is necessary for every 
teacher. It has a two-fold value. It is a health 
promoter. It aids in discipline. 

17. A teacher needs to be happy-minded, young 
in spirit and gentle in manners. 

18. Responsibility should be felt by the teacher. 

19. In every activity — in every crisis — the teach- 
er must be fearless. He must not be dependent 
upon some one else's decisions but use his own judg- 
ment and make his own decisions. 

20. The teacher must possess the ability to dis- 
criminate, and to form clear and quick judgments. 

21. A teacher's room at his boarding house or 
his home should be neat and well kept. 



88 Practical School Discipline 



22. The gospel of work Is safe for the teacher 
whose efforts are to be crowned with success. 

23. It is necessary for health's sake to take daily 
exercise out-of-doors. 

24. A teacher must keep in good health. An 
unhealthy teacher has no business in the school- 
room. 

25. System and order are qualifications of the 
teacher that make for success. 

26. A prudent teacher will use studied methods 
and plans, and not let the occasion suggest the 
procedure. Avoid teaching according to method 
books and teachers' papers only. 

27. Concentration of mind and purpose are es- 
sential to the successful teacher. 

28. Patience is a requisite for every teacher's 
work. 

29. A teacher should be religious. Refrain 
from talking religion in the school-room. Attack 
no pupil's religion. Sunday School can be attended, 
with profit, by the teacher. He should judge for 
himself whether or not he should teach a Sunday 
School class. 

30. The teacher must exercise care as to the 
extent of his social activities. He should not 
exclude himself from social gatherings, but should 
use great caution about what he says of others. 

31. Finally, the teacher must be a true leader. 
His reward must not be measured In dollars and 
cents, but by results from service rendered. 



PART TWO 



The School 

A FTER so thoroughly discussing the requisites 
/% of the teacher — those elements that will 
I ^^ make success possible — it is expedient that 
a short discussion should follow on the 
school, the child's home during his school career. 
The influence of a well kept building and premises 
is far reaching. Some years ago a stranger stopped 
in a western town, where he was very favorably 
impressed with the neatness of the homes and 
their surroundings. Upon investigation he found 
a small school building, but to his surprise, the 
humble, little three-room school was beautiful in 
its setting, and ivy clung to its brick walls making 
them look cheerful. There were flower beds in 
the yards and neatly kept gravel walks. Over the 
gate were vines. The windows had neat blinds and 
snowy-white curtains. The stranger asked to be 
admitted into the school building. On the inside 
he saw the same careful attention to neatness. The 
floors were clean, the walls tinted and adorned 
with excellent pictures and mottoes. The furniture 
showed no marks of defacement. With this little 
school as an example, the stranger could under- 
stand why the little town presented such a neat 
appearance. He further learned that the people, 
including the boys and girls, were a quiet peace- 

89 



90 Practical School Discipline 

loving people whose culture was far above the 
average. The little, well kept school may not have 
been the only influence, but it played a great part 
in shaping the ideas of the town folks. It must 
not be overlooked, however, that no matter in 
what condition the building and its surroundings 
may be, the success of the teacher will depend 
largely upon his preparation, ability and those 
other essentials and qualities that make the true 
teacher. Still it cannot be denied that the sur- 
roundings of the child are important factors in 
his development. 

Clean Surroundings 

It follows that a teacher who is trying to meet 
every requirement of the true teacher will not 
allow his school-room or the premises to be un- 
kept, unclean and unsanitary. The room and 
premises will be in keeping with the teacher. The 
question is this: if a teacher possesses every ele- 
ment of a good teacher, but allows the school-room 
and premises to be unkept and disorderly, will it 
affect the character of the work? It will to an 
extent. Every factor in the child's surroundings 
has an influence. It would be difficult to introduce 
the principle of order and system into a child's 
school work, if that child were surrounded by 
disorder in the school-room equipment. No one 
doubts that the appetizing effect of a luncheon is 
heightened by cleanliness, the taste with which the 
linen and dishes are arranged, even the mode of 



The School 91 

serving the food and the general appearance of 
the room. The best prepared meal would lose its 
savor and even be rejected, if it were served in 
an unclean place. , 

"The master of a school who found that the 
boys misused the halls, scribbling on the walls, 
throwing things around carelessly, breaking the 
glass globes of the gas jets, and playing rough 
games, changed the situation, not by making new 
rules or devising new punishments, but by Improv- 
ing the halls. He reformed the manners of the 
boys by repainting the dingy corridors, hanging 
them with attractive pictures, and improving the 
general order. For order invites order, and the 
perception that the school authorities care for the 
comfort and the pleasure of the children calls out 
a quick response."^ 

In the school-room, the spirit of work will be 
enhanced by pleasant and orderly surroundings. 
Orderliness In the arrangement of school equip- 
ment, including definlteness of instruction given, 
will beget order In the pupil's Avork and habits. It 
will go further; It will transplant Itself to the 
child's home, where order will be established, be- 
cause the child's life is being moulded in the school- 
room. Whatever Influence Is at work to better the 
homes In any way, is a most worthy Influence. 

However small the school-room may be. It Is 
the duty of every teacher to see first of all that 
the room is clean, the seats and other furniture 
dusted and a few well-chosen pictures on the wall. 

^Sneath and Hodges, op. cit., p. 190. 



92 Practical School Discipline 

No teacher is so poor that he cannot afford a few 
simple pictures for his school-room. Then a vase 
of flowers on the desk and one in a window will 
add charm. Much better would it be to have 
several potted plants in the school-room. They 
add freshness to the looks of the surroundings. 
It has been suggested that pupils can bring pictures 
from their homes, thereby saving that expense for 
the teacher. The author believes It Is a poor 
teacher, indeed, financially and In spirit, who can 
not afford several pictures for his school-room. 
His pride would be at a low ebb, and no doubt, it 
would be well for him to read articles on the value 
of pictures. In this connection it Is worth while to 
consider the custom of relegating that which does 
not appeal to one. The children will bring from 
their homes such pictures as the home does not 
prize. Will such pictures have an aesthetic value? 

Relegated Pictures 

Neither should the teacher adorn the walls of 
his school-room with pictures relegated from his 
own home. Pictures In a school-room are a neces- 
sity. Their presence means much. Where the 
surroundings are not luxurious, the pictures need 
not be expensive, but they should have meaning. 
Where the school-room is modern and the walls 
are well painted or papered, better and more 
expensive pictures can be used. Large, showy 
frames should be avoided. Great care should be 
exercised in the selection of pictures. By no means, 
allow the common advertising pictures or calendars 



The School 93 



to be hung in the room. They are gaudy and have 
no place in a study of art. A room in which the 
walls are decorated with various advertising pic- 
tures and calendars, indicates a teacher of poor 
taste. It would be better to use no pictures at all 
than to use advertisements. 

Effects of a Good Picture 

The author has often taken keen delight in 
watching a pupil, who had been busily engaged in 
study for half an hour, look up, and finally let 
his eyes fasten upon some simple picture on the 
school-room wall, and then go into a reflective 
mood. Who can tell the worth of some fancy 
being indulged, or some air-castle being built, and 
besides the pupil was getting a rest by, change of 
occupation. No great achievement has ever been 
attained, but that it was first a day-dream or an 
air-castle. 

Good Mottoes 

How many men recall how they were inspired 
to much greater ambition when as boys in the 
school-room they looked upon the simple mottoes, 
''Do Right," ''Never Give Up," "He Succeeds 
Who Tries," etc.? The benign face of Abraham 
Lincoln, of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, of 
Frances E. Willard or some other celebrity has 
carried many a pupiPs ambitions to higher levels. 
Pictures of the Christ Child, of Madonnas, of Na- 
ture scenes, and other standard subjects are very 
appropriate for the school-room. They will have 



94 Practical School Discipline 

their Influence. Little did the mother of three sons, 
who all became sailors, think that a certain im- 
pressive picture of the sea In her home would 
create love for the sea In the bosoms of her off- 
spring. It did. So will many other beautiful 
pictures create a love for the real which the pic- 
ture idealizes. 

It must be borne In mind that while the sur- 
roundings of the child are vital factors in his 
educational progress, still the best teacher can, to 
a certain degree, do good work in bad surround- 
ings. But the work will be far better in cleaa, 
sanitary and orderly buildings and premises. The 
opposite, likewise is true; the best kept house and 
premises will not enable a poor teacher to do good 
work. Good surroundings will have a good effect 
and make the work easier. A good teacher in 
poor surroundings cannot be conceived of as being 
satisfied. 

The Seating of Pupils 

A few other details of the school should be 
mentioned. It Is Important that the seating of 
pupils be the best. Pupils should not be required 
to sit in seats, either too small or too large for 
them. Often teachers attempt to have pupils sit 
by grades, frequently putting a large pupil Into a 
seat much too small, or the opposite, just as bad, 
a small pupil into a seat much too large. Teachers 
should not do this. To endanger a child's health 
in order to have him sitting with his grade Is a 
crime. Put the pupil in a seat that will suit him, 



The School 95 



irrespective of grade. If no such seat is in the 
room, see to it at once that one is provided. That 
may mean a visit to the Board of Education. The 
teacher is the guardian of the children and it is 
his duty to ask the Board for proper seats for 
pupils, if such hav^e not been provided. Pupils 
should not be compelled to sit so as to face a 
window or any opening admitting light. The best 
lighting for a school-room is from the left and 
back, but if this is impossible, it should at least 
not be from the front. Should any school-room be 
so constructed as to have light from the front, 
shades should be wisely used. Bright sunlight 
should never be allowed to shine upon the pupils' 
desks. It is extremely hard on the eyes to study 
from a page lighted by the direct rays of the sun. 

Color Schemes 

Perhaps, no more thoughtless Injury is done the 
eyes of pupils than that caused by the choosing of 
unwise color schemes for papering and painting 
the walls of school-rooms. In short, to make a 
school-room look cheerful, pink, yellow, and often 
red are chosen as the colors that will produce the 
desired effect. The motive Is all right, but the 
cheerfulness Is far outweighed by actual harm done 
the eyes of the pupils. Aside from the bad effect 
of bright colors on the eyes, there Is a tendency 
to increase restlessness on the part of the pupils 
by their use. Many nervous pupils are Irritated 
by striking surroundings. A school-room In which 



96 ' Practical School Discipline 

colors and furnishings are harmoniously blended so 
as to obtain soft contrasts, always produces quiet 
and will have a restful effect upon all pupils. No 
color is better than a very soft green, with a ceiling 
just tinged with green. Nature for the greater 
part of the year has green in her color arrange- 
ment. It is restful to the eyes. Again, taking a 
suggestion from Nature, her grays are soft and 
free from sharp contrasts. In papering or painting 
walls gray, care must be exercised, not to select a 
gray that is too dark; it will have a tendency to 
make the school-room appear dreary. Another 
good color is tan. Great care must be exercised in 
using tan, since, in most cases it Is too bright. 
Blue is one of Nature's colors, but as a rule blue 
in any shade is not suitable for school-room walls. 
The author is aware of the fact that thousands of 
schools have white walls. This should not be. 
Ten cents worth of green coloring matter In the 
hands of a decorator will give a suitable tint to a 
school-room interior. 

Ventilation 

The matter of school-room ventilation Is Impor- 
tant. In every school-room, even during the cold- 
est weather, some opening or openings should 
admit fresh air. Children should not sit where a 
direct draught blows upon them. Small openings 
at the tops of the windows furnish a safe Inlet for 
fresh air. It Is a good plan to open all the win- 
dows and doors of the school-room, for at least 



The School 97 

half an hour, after school is dismissed each day If 
no general ventilation system is installed. This 
will avoid having impure air shut in the school 
during the night, thereby permeating every nook 
and crevice of the school-room and even becoming 
offensive. Fresh air admitted after dismissal will 
keep the school-room pure and fresh and afford 
a place where the pupils will feel Invigorated upon 
entering the next morning. Often, pupils come in 
from the fresh air only to breathe the stifling air 
of the school-room. Little wonder theu that the 
teacher must complain of dull pupils before the 
clock points to ten. No foul air is likely to be 
found In a school-room at the hour of opening if 
fresh air is admitted each day after dismissal. 

The Basement 

Another very common source of foul odors in 
the school-room is the basement. Though many 
school-rooms do not have a basement, yet so many 
have a problem at this point that it is necessary to 
speak about the matter. The author has visited 
many schools with basements, and recalls one only 
that was actually sanitary. Most basements of 
schools are the receptacles for the garbage and 
refuse of the school. In it are kept broken seats, 
old brooms, things forgotten and left at school by 
pupils, waste paper, paint cans, flower pots, and 
a hundred other things. To make matters worse, 
the basement windows, if there are any, are never 
opened. A disease producer is beneath the chil- 



98 Practical School Discipline 

dren; contagion gets through the cracks of the 
floor and Is a constant source of contamination of 
the air In the room above. Many basements are 
even abodes of rats and mice, thereby exposing the 
pupils to different diseases. Damp and rainy days 
increase the offenslveness of an unsanitary base- 
ment. Unscrupulous teachers often use the Ill- 
ventilated basement for a play room during bad 
weather. Such a practice is abominable. No 
teacher should be guilty of such an offense. Better 
not let the pupils play at all, for exercise In offen- 
sive air Is dangerous and far worse than none. 
If any place In the entire school should be sanitary, 
It should be the basement. 

After all has been said about the equipment of 
the school-room, the greatest asset Is its sanitary 
condition and cleanliness. This must be at Its best 
to secure good results. The unclean school-room 
— especially the unventllated one, usually a condi- 
tion Indicating a lazy, careless teacher — Is danger- 
ous. Disease may lurk in such a place and the 
mental activities of the pupils be stupefied. 

The Janitor 

Closely related to the teacher's care of the 
school-room Is the work of the janitor. True, 
many schools do not have any problems respecting 
the janitor, yet a word about his relations with the 
teacher or supervisor Is necessary. The supervisor 
should see to it that the janitor Is thoroughly edu- 
cated In the proper care of the school and premises. 



The School 99 



If the janitor knows little about such matters, as 
is usually the case, he should be instructed in every 
detail. Here caution is very needful. A teacher 
should never appear to be authoritative to a jani- 
tor; he is the school's most necessary adjunct and 
should be treated with every respect. When giving 
orders always talk the matter over with him, ask- 
ing his opinion; when he gives his ideas, request 
him to carry them out for the benefit of the school. 
Never fail to Inspect the work of the janitor; that 
Is, his regular work as well as that which was spe- 
cially assigned to him. If It does not meet your 
approval, kindly suggest wherein it may be im- 
prov^ed. If the work is satisfactory, never fail to 
tell the janitor, not In a formal manner, but make 
him feel your sincerity and appreciation of his 
efforts. To show him the good results that will 
arise from his painstaking labors, will heighten his 
desire to do his best. 

Often, although it Is extremely poor policy, the 
janitor is asked to aid actively in discipline; this 
is not his province, as he Is not appointed to take 
charge of such matters. It Is the teacher's duty 
to discipline his own pupils. The janitor can often 
become a factor in discipline. Many teachers treat 
him with such a domineering spirit that they incur 
his 111 will. When Ill-treated the janitor will gossip 
and sometimes he may say something detrimental 
about the teacher to the pupils. This has a ten- 
dency to weaken the teacher's Influence and ability 
to control. A janitor should be required to keep 
his clothing neat and clean. He should not use 



100 Practical School Discipline 

offensive language, nor should he smoke or use 
tobacco in any form or become intoxicated. In 
fact, his morals should be excellent. Allow the 
janitor and his family to attend all school func- 
tions, free of charge. Often the janitor desires a 
day or half day off; do not deny him this privi- 
lege. Whenever, unfortunately, an inefficient jan- 
itor has been employed, he, as well as an unquali- 
fied teacher, should be discharged. 

Summary 

1. It is important that any discussion of the 
requisites of the teacher should be followed by a 
discussion of the proper care of the sehool-room 
and premises. 

2. The condition of the school-room and the 
premises will have an influence upon the teacher 
as well as upon the work done by the pupils. 

3. A good teacher, filling every requisite, will 
see that the condition of the school-room and 
premises has proper attention. 

4. A good teacher's work will be made better 
by good surroundings, and far more difficult by 
bad surroundings. 

5. A poor teacher's work will be improved by 
good surroundings, and poor surroundings will 
make good work practically impossible. 

6. The condition of the school-room and prem- 
ises will have an influence on the condition of the 
homes of the pupils. 



The School 101 

7. Every school-room should have good mottoes 
and pictures on the walls. Some potted plants 
should be in the room. Never put advertising 
pictures and calendars on the walls. 

8. Waste paper, ash heaps and other rubbish 
should not adorn the school premises. The latter 
should be kept clean and orderly. 

9. Proper seating of pupils is necessary. 

10. Light should be from the left and back, 
never from the front. Direct sunlight should never 
fall on pupils' desks or books. 

11. The walls of the school-room should not 
be tinted or papered with bright colors. Soft 
green, gray and tan are suitable colors. 

12. School-room ventilation is very important. 

13. The basement of a school should be as 
sanitary as any other part of the building. 

14. The teacher or supervisor should exercise 
wise control over the janitor. 



PART THREE 



DISCIPLINE: Its Province 
AND End 

WHAT Is discipline? It is the habit of 
obedience. It is submissiveness to order 
and control. It is subjection to rule. It 
is a training to act in accordance with 
established rules. Discipline obviously must be 
control. Definition after definition may be sought, 
all ultimately designating discipline as control. 
Though it is known that discipline is control or 
submissiveness to order and system, still there 
remains much to be said to clear up the idea of 
discipline. In examining the province of discipline, 
many questions arise. Does discipline guarantee 
that a teacher is able to punish all offenses with 
the correct punishment, and by so doing Insure 
against the recurrence of offense; or does It mean 
any given code of rules that will prevent misde- 
meanors; or does It mean the assigning of punish- 
ment for offenses so as to display vengeance against 
the wrong doer, suppressing him for the time being, 
but instigating him to further wrong when the op- 
portunity offers itself? It means far more than 
can be fully explained In any brief answer. 

103 



104 Practical School Discipline 



The Province of Discipline 

Discipline is that vital control of an individual 
that molds character. All those agencies that are 
employed to perfect and round out character are 
disciplinary devices. 

"The daily discipline of a good school is a con- 
stant instruction in morals. The idea of order that 
is suggested in the appearance of the school is here 
perceived in action. There is a regulated system 
into which the individual must enter. He must 
subordinate his own desires and impulses to the 
general social welfare. Thus he learns the elemen- 
tary virtue of obedience. He takes orders and 
obeys them. He becomes accustomed to an author- 
ity which he must respect." ^ 

Were every product of the school-room a per- 
fectly disciplined product, the pupil would be self- 
controlling and the phophecy that perfect discipline 
would annihilate prisons, reforms and courts of 
justice would become a fact. A human being self- 
controlled after experience under a sound system 
of discipline would offer little difficulty as a subject 
of school management. Since discipline is a train- 
ing in self-control and self-direction, which are 
prime elements in character, discipline is indispen- 
sible in character building. 

Training in self-mastery is impossible without a 
prearranged determination of conduct. Some one 
must analyze the possible types of activity and 

^Sneath and Hodges, op. cit., pp. 194-5. 



; Its ^Province and End 105 

wisely direct the immature person in choosing his 
standards of conduct. 

The End in Discipline 

Assuming that the teacher understands the great 
importance of discipline, it becomes necessary, be- 
fore discussing its underlying principles, to consider 
some other phases of the subject. First of all it 
is most important to understand the end to be 
achieved in discipline. It is true that all aimless 
discipline is poor discipline whatever may be the 
teacher's zeal. A clear knowledge of the end to 
be attained is not only important as a guide to 
methods of discipline, but will fully predetermine 
the results. The question now arises: "Just what 
is the end to be sought in discipline?" Some one 
may say, "The end to be sought in discipline is 
good order;" some one else may say, "application." 
It is neither chiefly. These are mere conditions 
of successful school work, and are not at all ulti- 
mate ends to be attained through discipline. The 
teacher who regards these as the ends of discipline 
is not only likely to use improper means, but will 
be satisfied with a mere semblance of success. The 
true end of discipline is none other than the 
achievement of self-control. This includes an ef- 
ficient moral training by: (1) the awakening of 
proper sentiments, (2) quickening of the conscience, 
(3) enlightening of moral judgment, (4) training 
the will to act habitually from high and worthy 
motives, (5) thoughtfulness as to the rights of 
others and (6) a practical religious training. 



106 Practical School Discipline 

Bagley discovers three chief functions of disci- 
pHne ( 1 ) the creation and preservation of condi- 
tions that are essential to orderly progress of the 
work for which the school exists; (2) *'The prepar- 
ation of the pupils for effective participation in 
an organized adult society;'' (3) "The gradual 
impression of the fundamental lessons of self- 
control." 

"Discipline Is, therefore, the last directive factor 
of the educative process. It Is to the soul what 
logic or geometry is to the mind, or gymnastics to 
the body: it aims at bracing the will. But it has 
been seen that self-direction grows out of external 
direction; self-discipline out of the discipline of 
the home and the school. External discipline is 
good only when It does lead to the development 
of self-control." ^ 

The Teacher as a Concrete Ideal 

A clear vision of the end to be attained in disci- 
pline presupposes that the teacher embody every 
ideal of self-control that is needed to build up the 
perfectly rounded-out character. The teacher is 
the soul, of his measures. The child is a pilgrim, 
needing to be led; a growing entity, needing to be 
nourished. Then it follows that the teacher be- 
comes the ideal — a living, growing, real ideal for 
the pupil. This is not true in a general and ab- 
stract way only, for in every phase of his work, 
the teacher must by the very nature of the 

^Welton and Blandford, op. cit., pp. 156-7. 



Its Province and End 107 



process, adapt himself — his thought, his action, his 
feeling, his life — to what the pupil is and should 
next become. Here it becomes apparent that the 
teacher is not a remote or unattainable ideal, but 
a very near and present help for every succeeding 
activity of the pupil — a help-meet for good. The 
remote end of discipline, self-control, is realized by 
a constant presentation of the ideal embodied in 
the teacher, by a vitalizing association with the 
child. In this way the ideals of the teacher dom- 
inate the life of the child. 

There Is a story extant that an eaglet was 
hatched with a brood of goslings. Unconscious of 
its eagle nature, it kept to the earth with its un- 
natural mates, until one day an eagle soaring 
along, swooped down near it and touched it with 
the spirit of the freedom of the upper air. It took 
wing Into the realms of Its natural abode. The 
child, beautiful In Its simple life, needs but the touch 
of that Ideal embodied in a spirit that will bring 
him Into his rightful sphere. Many years ago a 
venerable pastor, whose life was a fountain ^of 
constant inspiration for good, returned to the 
scenes of his boyhood and called upon the aged 
pedagogue who had taught him in his youth. He 
reported the good work he believed he had accom- 
plished. He told the teacher that he was regarded 
as a bad boy In his school days, but that the peda- 
gogue had turned him Into paths of right, where- 
upon the old man asked "What was It I said?" 
The worthy pastor replied, "Ah, it was not what 
you said; It was your life." 



108 Practical School Discipline 

The teacher's life, his ideals, his habits will be 
lived over again in those whom he teaches. Thus 
it can be seen that it is not sufficient for the teacher 
to set up imaginary ends and theories for realizing 
them in pupils; he himself must be the realized 
end. It is scarcely worth while for a teacher to 
set up as an end in the pupils the formation of 
correct habits and forms of thought without realiz- 
ing them in himself. It need not be said that a 
teacher who cannot think with scientific patience 
and precision cannot train others to such patience 
and precision. Honesty can be cultivated only by 
him who Is honest. Truth can be cultivated only 
by him who is truth-loving. The love of work can 
be taught only by him who works. Noble thinking 
can be stimulated only by him who is imbued with 
nobleness of thought. The idealized spirit of 
faith and hope can shine forth only from the soul 
that hopes and has the faith that radiated from 
the spirit of the Teacher of Galilee. "In another 
aspect discipline is a relation between the child and 
the teacher, and here the contribution of the 
teacher is his personality and the force of his will, 
to which the child responds with trust, obedience, 
and the will to please.' 



>) 1 



Both Good and Bad Traits are Copied 

This introduces the distinction between conscious 
and unconscious instruction. The. teacher by planned 
and immediate efforts, by definite and formal 

^Welton and Blandford, op. cit, p. 169. 



Its Province and End 109 

instruction, draws the pupil into his own more 
perfect thought and life ; but much of the influence 
exerted by the teacher is unconscious and without 
forethought; effort and purpose would diminish it. 
Pupils are so susceptible to the silent influence of 
the teacher that they are supposed to make some 
permanent change each time they come into the 
presence of the teacher. There is a reason for 
this belief. Experience and observation have 
taught that personal contact works marvellously 
on the young who are continually in the presence 
of those whom they admire. Pupils instinctively 
copy the teacher, even in the case of mannerisms. 
Thrice fortunate is the teacher who possesses a 
strong personality, if his life incarnates all that is 
ideal and beautiful. Pupils assimilate both the 
evil and the good. How expedient it is then that 
they find only beautiful traits and a wholesome 
spirit which, like a fragrance filling the air, sur- 
rounds the noble-minded and warm-hearted teach- 
er. Not so much by the daily task imposed and the 
instruction meted out as by the silent worship of 
the heart, does the child flower into beautiful life, 
and ripen into worthy manhood and womanhood. 
Every teacher should be to the child a worthy 
model. Thus, by admiration and worship directed 
toward a superior, would the pupil realize the 
worth and beauty of all the good in the true teach- 
er's life. Using the wisest and most precise meth- 
od of instruction does not fill the measure of the 
teacher's responsibility. After all the pupil is cir- 
cumscribed and continues to walk on earth among 



no Practical School Discipline 

common things, unless quickened by a touch from 
the hovering spirit in the higher life of a teacher. 

In a former chapter it has been pointed out 
that the school, as a home for the child during 
his school career, definitely molds character. Also, 
the teacher's intellectual qualifications have been 
fully set forth. But meeting these requirements 
alone cannot insure success for the teacher. In this 
chapter the moral influence of the teacher has been 
clearly explained as an agency in the character 
building of the child. Discipline has been inter- 
preted as a training in self-control, and self-control 
as a prime element in character. Then it must be 
evident that discipline is the teacher^s one great 
function. When the teacher has directed his every 
effort and energy toward discipline, he is doing his 
utmost to build permanent, worthy character, pro- 
viding that he possesses every attribute of the true 
teacher and uses those underlying principles of 
discipline, that alone can make true discipline 
possible. 

"In childhood the trainer makes the child; dur- 
ing adolescence the youth makes himself. In child- 
hood habits are forged by the unreasoned processes 
of reiteration; during youth they are made by the 
voluntary acceptance of an inner ideal and the 
conscious nurture of that ideal. For the child 
habit-making should be as unconscious as breath- 
ing; for the youth it should be his deliberate and 
high-born duty. A wise teacher will never talk 
habits to children; before they know it, she will 
have them chained — no, that is a hateful and vie- 



Its Province and End 111 



ious figure — she will have them free as the wings 
of a bird in the unconscious and happy regulations 
of their lives." ^ 

Summary 

1. Discipline is defined as a training to act in 
accordance with established moral principles. 

2. If true discipline could obtain, most school- 
room problems would cease to exist and there 
would be no need of courts of justice and penal 
institutions. 

3. The end of discipline is self-control on the 
part of the child. 

4. Discipline is necessary for the production of 
worthy character. 

5. A clear understanding of the end to be at- 
tained in discipline will decide the nature of the 
methods to be employed. 

6. The teacher is the agent who must embody 
the ideal of self-control and thereby make perfect 
discipline possible. 

7. It is impossible to secure any results in dis- 
cipline unless its ideal is first embodied in the 
teacher's life. 

8. The teacher's ideal must be lived out in his 
own life unconsciously. There can be no successful 
attempt on the part of the teacher to live in ac- 
cordance with an artificial ideal. 

9. The teacher's influence over the child helps 
or hinders the growth of good character. 

10. Pupils instinctively copy the teacher's ideal. 

11. Discipline is the teacher's greatest function. 

^Arthur Holmes, op. cit, p. 316. 



PART FOUR 



Fundamental Principles 
IN Discipline 

BEFORE entering into the discussion of the 
fundamental principles underlying disci- 
) pline, it will be well to explode the errone- 
ous notion that too many teachers hold: 
namely, that general principles of discipline are not 
broadly applicable. To illustrate, recently a certain 
magazine made the announcement that a notable 
educator was writing a course in child training. To 
this, one of those all-wise pessimists replied that the 
educator would have to write just as many courses 
as there were children, assuming that each child is 
a totally different entity and what can be used in 
the training of one child cannot possibly be em- 
ployed in the education of another. Such an as- 
sumption is unsound, unfounded and absurd. In 
the following pages the writer proposes to prove 
the fallacy of such a notion. 

Various Dispositions 

Again and again it may be heard that should a 
school have twenty-five pupils, there would be twen- 
ty-five different dispositions to handle and that what 
might be used in disciplining one child could not be 
used in disciplining another. No one wishes to 

113 



114 Practical School Discipline 

gainsay that there are as many different disposi- 
tions as there are individuals, but these different 
dispositions will all undoubtedly respond to the 
great fundamental laws underlying discipline. To 
attempt to deny the operation and general effective- 
ness of fundamental principles in discipline would 
be an attempt to overthrow a bulwark of accumu- 
lated evidence of the past. Principles that are 
fundamental, not alone in discipline, but In every 
activity, have operated in unmistakable surety since 
the dawn of history. To deny this would only 
tend to weaken one's faith in principles that when 
properly applied have always overcome the most 
stubborn problems in discipline. 

Small minds often find It Impossible to collect 
useful knowledge into general statements. They 
prefer to settle each difficulty by reference to a 
similar former experience. On the other hand one 
who profits largely from his experience Is able final- 
ly to draw broad conclusions which he can use in 
widely different situations. 

This power of generalization makes easy ithe 
comparison of experiences of teachers and so skill 
in disciplinary matters multiplies itself at every 
opportunity for the exchange of Ideas. 

A number of careful observations made in the 
school-room will sustain the assertion that any fun- 
damental principle will certainly become applicable 
to the mass of individuals. It Is a universal law 
that a fundamental principle of psychological Im- 
port works toward the same end In every normal 



• Fundamental Principles 115 

individual. Several years ago a principal in a 
large high school made the following observations. 
One of his teachers was keenly sensitive to all the 
little faults of the pupils. Seven of the boys and 
five of the girls had been reported by her to the 
principal for various offenses. Each of the twelve 
pupils portrayed entirely different characteristics. 
Their offenses too were entirely different as well as 
their motives. Here was a plain case of twelve 
different dispositions, which no one would attempt 
to ignore, but quite naturally, the teacher did not 
use twelve different methods of procedure; she had 
a feeling of distrust toward all of these pupils. She 
did not openly show it, but before the school closed 
there was an open rupture between those pupils and 
the teacher — they hated her — why? They could 
hardly tell. It was due to her attitude of distrust. 
This evil was not openly at work (except to a keen 
observer) but silently, it operated upon twelve dif- 
ferent dispositions in the same way — all to one end. 
In the same school and at the same time, labored 
another teacher who reported the same boys and 
girls, but her reports were followed up by a deep 
love toward and helpful trust in those boys and 
girls. She did not tell them that she trusted and 
loved them. The principle accomplished its mission 
silently — as is always the case. These boys and 
girls, without knowing why, came to love, respect 
and obey this teacher. She did not use different 
methods on the different dispositions, but in silence 
a fundamental principle at work, won for her the 



116 Practical School Discipline 

admiration of all her pupils. She was a successful 
disciplinarian. She skillfully applied fundamental 
principles, and it is needless to add that no serious 
outbreaks against discipline ever occurred under her 
management. It is all too true that the failure to 
understand fundamental principles in discipline is 
the certain cause of perplexing problems that will 
suggest "so-called" different methods for different 
dispositions. 

Broad underlying principles in discipline are safe 
and the teacher who would seek skill in school man- 
agement will ground himself in these broad under- 
lying principles — principles that have been effective 
through countless decades of successful school man- 
agement. It is an axiom that the teacher who fails 
to use the fundamental principles of confidence will 
have many examples of distrust. The teacher who 
persists in fault-finding will always have sufficient 
material upon which to exercise his fault-finding 
impulse. The teacher who is constantly expecting 
trouble will soon be rewarded; while on the other 
hand, the teacher who has an abiding faith in his 
pupils and himself does not expect real antago- 
nism — true to the universal law, never meets an in- 
soluble problem in school-room discipline. The 
teacher who displays a deep interest in his work 
and an interest in the work and welfare of his pu- 
pils, will have an industrious school; he will not 
need to lecture to his pupils about the necessity of 
diligence; they will show their zeal by doing the 
work assigned. It is ''catching" from the teacher 



Fundamental Principles 117 

who has an interest and works upon the principle 
that it is necessary for a teacher, first, to enjoy doing 
school work well before pupils can be expected to 
do likewise. No one denies that trust will beget 
trust, confidence will beget confidence, good-will w411 
beget good-will and affection will beget affection. 
The opposite is likewise true, hate will beget hate, 
distrust will beget distrust, suspicion will beget sus- 
picion, and fault-finding will beget dissatisfaction. 
From the foregoing, it may be assumed that the most 
skeptical must be convinced concerning the broad 
and effective application of general principles. In 
this connection, it is well to remember, that funda- 
mental principles cannot apply themselves, the teach- 
er is the agent that must apply the principles and 
adjust the laws to every given case. 

The Principle of Suggestion 

The principle of suggestion will be given the first 
consideration, not because it is more important than 
any other fundamental principle in discipline, but 
because it is so obviously and vitally correlated with 
all others. At the very outset it is a truth that 
cannot be overlooked that the teacher's very life is 
a silent suggestive stimulus. In fact all the other 
principles would lose their effectiveness to a great 
extent were not the principle of suggestion inter- 
woven in their operations. For example, the teach- 
er has occasion to use the principle of approval. 
In it the principle of suggestion is involved. The 
teacher approves of a pupil's behavior, immediately 



118 Practical School Discipline 

there is suggested to the pupil the idea of future 
good behavior for the sake of approval, and further- 
more because it means better class-standing. The 
operation of the principle can even effect other than 
direct results. A pupil or a number of pupils, who 
were indifferent regarding this special point of good 
behavior, indeed, who may have been misbehaving 
at the time the other pupil was conducting himself 
so as to elicit approval from his teacher, will be 
affected by the approval. The principle of sugges- 
tion leads them to infer that they too can gain ap- 
probation for good behavior. Thus, the principle 
operates in channels where the teacher may not have 
directly applied the principle. 

The principle of suggestion can be defined or 
explained as the process by which associated ideas 
follow one another into consciousness. Sometimes 
it is explained simply as the association of ideas. 
It can be termed an intrusion into the mind of an 
idea; met with more or less opposition by the per- 
son; accepted uncritically at last; and realized un- 
reflectively, almost automatically. Suggestion is 
always a stimulus to action. The proposed action 
may be external or internal, a movement or an at- 
titude. A suggestion can never refer to a mere idea. 
If a mere notion is aroused in the mind it is not 
suggestion; it becomes such if an impulse to act is 
aroused. This impulse may be suppressed or it may 
ripen into action. One idea in the mind or con- 
sciousness recalls another and so on, a chain of ideas 
may pass through consciousness, one suggesting the 



Fundamental Principles 119 

other. Quite often the last Idea is very unlike the 
first in content, and yet if the suggestion is strong 
action results. "A supply of ideas of the various 
movements that are possible, left in the memory by 
experiences of their involuntary performance, is 
thus the first prerequisite of the voluntary life."^ 

Henry R. Pattengill, the great Michigan educator 
and editor, recalls that when a small boy in his log- 
cabin forest home, his father brought an ax Into 
the house one cold winter morning. As the father 
laid the ax on the floor beside the fireplace, he said 
to the children, "Don't touch that ax or your fingers 
will stick fast.'* Then he left the room. He had 
unconsciously applied the principle of suggestion. 
No sooner was the door closed than Henry revolved 
this question In his mind, "Why will my fingers stick 
to the ax?" This suggested that he try for himself 
and see. The trial was made and the results were 
as the father had intimated, but the boy did not 
learn the true reason until years afterward. 

Another illustration is in point. One of the best 
rural schools in a Western State had employed a 
new teacher. He was one of that class of teachers 
who believed that rules were necessary to cover 
every known misdemeanor that might happen dur- 
ing the school-year. After opening his school on 
the first day, he read his list of rules. The pupils 
had always been well-behaved and well-governed, 
but not unlike other children were buoyant with 
abundant life. Among his many rules was one that 

^Tracy, Psychology of Childhood, p. 95. Heath. 



120 Practical School Discipline 

forbade any pupil to climb upon the woodhouse 
roof. The punishment for disobeying the rule was 
a whipping. He skillfully, but in the wrong place, 
applied the principle of suggestion. Many of the 
pupils had attended the school for six years and 
had never thought of climbing upon the woodhouse 
roof. The new teacher had given the suggestion. 
Great was his surprise when he walked into the back 
yard at recess and found every boy and several of 
the bolder girls on the woodshed roof. They had 
acted in accordance with the principle of suggestion 
and it was ''up to him" to make good. His pre- 
destined punishment was next in order to meet this 
result of a never-failing operation of a fundamental 
principle. The most lamentable part of the affair 
was that the whipping was an impossibility with 
so large a number of pupils. The teacher was com- 
pelled to break one of his rules, which true to a 
fundamental principle was a suggestion to his pupils 
that he would break the others as well. It is need- 
less to say that his discipline was of the poorest 
kind. He failed. 

Rules 

How many young teachers feel that it is very 
necessary to have a code of rules! They make 
themselves believe that it will display authority 
to begin their first school by reading a list of rules. 
No worse mistake could be made. By reading a list 
of rules they are showing a distrust in the boys and 
girls and thereby laying a foundation for futurt 
trouble. It is better to say nothing about order on 



Fundamental Principles 121 

the first day of school than to parade authority by 
setting forth rules. Authority and firmness can be 
far better indicated by beginning earnest work at 
once on the first day without any reference to rules. 
"Authority may compel because of its might, and 
often it must compel because of its responsibility; 
but the type of order that is most effective is that 
in which the fact of coercion is least in evidence. 
In the city and the state, as in the school, the condi- 
tion that is sought is a "fashion" of obeying the 
law and respecting the rights of others; and while 
the forces that can coerce must be made plainly 
evident to those who can be appealed to in no other 
way, the wise executive keeps them from constantly 
and irritatingly impinging upon public attention."^ 
Do not emphasize the Idea of authority In the 
pupils' minds and your authority will not be forever 
put to the test. It Is a wrong use of the principle of 
suggestion to exercise authority in a way that is still 
far too common among teachers. The average boy 
with good red blood in his veins tends to take the 
attitude of authority on the part of the teacher as 
a kind of challenge. The teacher who Is constantly 
flaunting his authority will most assuredly have 
occasion to use It. The less authority shown the 
less need for it, is a safe rule to follow. It Is bad 
policy to make rules for the government of a school, 
and then attach punishments of various kinds and 
degrees for the infringement of the rules. In gov- 
erning a school, it is time enough to deal with a 

^Bagley, op. cit. p. 133. 



122 Practical School Discipline 

misdemeanor after it is committed. Often a certain 
rule against a certain misdemeanor encourages that 
act, thus operating in accordance with the principle 
of suggestion. To apply unvarying rules to varying 
conditions is a prolific source of error and confusion. 
No rule can be made to fit a case before it arises. 

Suggestion is certainly nothing abnormal and 
exceptional. It does not lead us away from our 
ordinary life. Child life is a rich field into which 
suggestion may enter in a hundred different forms. 
The life of the family, education, law, business, 
politics, art, public life and religion are all depend- 
ent upon suggestion. Everywhere, at all times in- 
dividuals are stimulated to actions by outside sug- 
gestion, that they would not perform, if they were 
to act upon their own impulses or reasons. Experi- 
ence shows that different individuals have different 
degrees of suggestive power. Attendant circum- 
stances have a great influence upon the power of 
suggestion. Individual characteristics differ widely 
as to the effect of suggestion. 

In no field of activity is the principle of sugges- 
tion so powerful and useful ks in the teacher's 
profession. It will be well to deviate from the 
subject of suggestion to note that imitation plays 
a vital part in suggestion in the school-room. It 
must be remembered that imitation follows sugges- 
tion; it is a resultant of suggestion. The teacher 
who embodies every qualification that makes a true 
teacher will suggest the traits of his character to his 
pupils. They will as a natural sequence imitate them. 



Fundamental Principles 123 

Every trait of a noble character is important 
and deserves to be emulated by the child; the char- 
acteristics that make successful men and women in 
every activity of life are worthy of imitation. The 
greatest trait of character is morality, and it is the 
most vital of the teacher's requisites. To the aver- 
age pupil this trait in the teacher's character will 
appeal. If the pupil's moral life is near perfection, 
the teacher's life will only aid in helping the pupil 
to maintain his standard. This may be termed an 
unconscious co-operation of the teacher with his 
pupil. Building a strong character is not an easy 
matter for the average pupil. He sees in his 
teacher those requisites which he wishes to incor- 
porate in his own life; he must overcome his own 
weakness; when he does so, he is allowing the 
teacher's worthy characteristics to suggest to him 
the possibility of incarnating them into his own 
life. This is neither co-operation or imitation mere- 
ly, but suggestion. It is also true of the law of 
suggestion that if the teacher exhibits unworthy 
traits of character^ these too will act as suggestions 
to the pupil. It need not be argued further that 
the teacher's life is a powerful incentive to imitation 
through suggestion. 

Suggestion as an agency for efFective volition 
does not stop with those elements that build char- 
acter. It reaches into the child's life at every 
opening. His habits of work, of study, of play, 
and every physical, mental and spiritual process 
are largely influenced by the principle of suggestion. 



124 Practical School Discipline 

In fact, his first notions always come from some 
suggestion. His first ideas of play, of work, and 
of study come as ideas from some one else or from 
some outside source. The notion in itself, at first, 
is abstract, but becomes concrete and a part of the 
child when he allows the suggestion of the notion 
to cause him to act so as to make the notion a reality 
and a part of his life. 

One of the most powerful agencies for sugges- 
tion is the school community itself. The principal 
of a school had the pleasure of transferring his 
pupils to a new building, erected at a cost of more 
than sixty thousand dollars. He resolutely set his 
mind to the task of preserving the property from 
defacement. 

In the old building a succession of teachers and 
pupils had allowed to grow up the custom of grossly 
injuring both the structure proper and the equipment 
as well. Both in public and in private he judiciously 
drew the picture of the contrast between the appear- 
ances of the two buildings. At the proper moment 
on each occasion he asked the individual or the 
school as a whole, as the case might be, if the pres- 
ervation of the new building in its perfect condition 
was desirable : ".Do you want to keep the new school 
house fresh and in perfect order as long as pos- 
sible?" 

The pupils in a large majority, of course, declared 
that that was their desire. This public sentiment 
soon became so strong that it entirely suppressed 
the few who otherwise would have continued the 



Fundamental Principles 125 

policy of defacing school property. There arose a 
community will among the pupils that made itself 
felt and held in easy control the unruly members 
of the school. 

The teacher who fails to make use of this agency 
for suggesting courses of action to his pupils is 
neglecting a powerful force in the management of 
his school. Suggestions are rapidly transferred 
from pupil to pupil ; a proper choice of the occasion 
is necessary; a careful balancing of diverse elements 
in the school group must be achieved; a variety of 
appeals to meet differences in dispositions is required; 
a knowledge of these guiding facts cannot but make 
the plan of community suggestion a, feasible and in 
fact a necessary instrument in school management. 

"The best disciplined school that the writer has 
ever seen was under the charge of a principal who 
had worked for six years to make the collective will 
of the pupil-body give its sanctions to good order, 
courteous behavior, and aggressive effort. Interest 
in school work and co-operation with the teachers 
had become distinct fashions. So powerful was the 
force thus generated and directed that the superin- 
tendent not infrequently transferred to this school 
pupils who had got beyond control in other schools 
of the city." ^ 

Since suggestion Is by nature a stimulus to action 
it may be well to urge that all attempts to use sug- 
gestion as a disciplinary measure should be molded 
by some specific plan of action for the pupil. 

^Bagley, op. cit. p. 5. . 



126 Practical School Discipline 

If the teacher attempts to direct merely the atti- 
tudes or feelings of the pupil he will often fail in 
the use of suggestion. Every person whether child 
or adult has far more interest in activity than in 
inaction. Even rest is always considered a prepara- 
tion for further activity. 

Activity may be of two kinds: work and play. 
Suggestion may be used in both. Madame Montes- 
sori says: "The first dawning of real discipline 
comes through work." ^ The fascination of a piece 
of work even in the kindergarten will fix attention, 
inspire persistence and in countless ways actually 
direct the impulses of the child. Discipline through 
work is the most ready and appropriate agency for 
the moral training of all both young and old. 

The teacher who understands the disciplinary re- 
sources of the school tasks is a competent teacher 
and disciplinarian. The more completely the disci- 
pline of the school- is fused with the established 
school program of activity the better will be the 
results reached. 

Play is a part of the recog|nized outline of school 
functions. It is second only fp work as an educative 
instrument. All that may be said of the wise use 
of suggestion in work may be repeated with slight 
modifications in respect to play. The teacher must 
give as much wise thought to the suggestive features 
of play as to any other element in school life. 

^The Montessori Method, p. 350. Stokes. 



Fundamental Principles 127 

The Principle of Leading Suggestion 

Some years ago a young country teacher called 
upon one of his city friends late one winter after- 
noon. Just as the teacher was leaving his friend's 
home, the conversation turned to a topic that was 
very interesting to both, but the teacher had three 
miles to walk into the country and knew that he 
could not tarry to finish the conversation. How- 
ever, he asked his friend to walk with him from the 
house to the first telephone post so that they might 
carry on their conversation. The friend knew that 
supper would be ready in a few minutes but the 
suggestion to walk so small a distance from his 
home in order to carry on an interesting conversa- 
tion was appealing and he yielded to the teacher's 
wish. Upon reaching the telephone post the con- 
versation had grown more interesting instead of 
reaching an end, so the teacher suggested that his 
friend walk two blocks further with him to a certain 
school building. The friend acted upon the sugges- 
tion, but upon reaching the school building the con- 
versation had reached a greater point of interest 
and was in no way near completion. Both were 
deeply interested. The teacher made the suggestion 
that his friend walk to a certain bridge with him. 
Again the friend acted upon the suggestion. So, on 
they journeyed until the friend discovered that he 
had walked half of the way from his home to the 
teacher's home, besides forgetting all about his 
supper. No one will doubt that had the teacher 



128 Practical School Discipline 

asked his friend to walk half way to his home with 
him just as they left the house, he would not have 
succeeded in inducing him to do so, even by the use 
of most persistent persuasion. But he succeeded in 
taking his friend with him by suggesting a little 
part of the journey at a time. He had used a prin- 
ciple that for the want of a better name will be called 
the Principle of Leading Suggestion. 

However, it Is not a matter of the name of the 
principle, but the principle itself and its application 
that Interests the teacher. How many teachers have 
failed to lead pupils to do what they have asked 
them to do, all because the imposed task appeared 
to be too hard. This same task could have been 
readily accomplished had the teacher divided it into 
inviting portions and requested the pupil to do just 
one part at a time. In this case the /whole task 
should not be discussed at first. At no time In the 
journey described above did the friend think but 
that the small distance suggested would be the last 
part of the journey and at the end of it he would 
turn homeward. 

The teacher discovers among his pupils a boy 
who dislikes to read. The teacher knows the boy's 
likes and dislikes and Is sure that certain books 
would Interest him, but to ask the boy to read an 
entire book would only mean to further discourage 
him as to the reading habit. Hence, the teacher 
asks the boy to read the first chapter on a certain 
day for a specific purpose which he frankly makes 
known to the boy. A few days may elapse before 



Fundamental Principles 129 

the teacher asks the boy to read the second chapter 
with some other aim in view, perhaps. Thus the 
teacher labors until the boy has read the book. In 
most cases the boy will announce that he read on 
ahead of the teacher's assignment and will ask for 
another book "just like this one.'* He has broken 
the Ice and by a wise choice of books on the part 
of the teacher, he may become an enthusiastic 
reader. 

The teacher with a keen insight will see no limit 
to the number of results that may be obtained by 
the use of leading suggestion. In the primary grades 
it can be made a very effective tool for advancing 
the child's interests. The stubborn and willful child 
will respond readily to this principle and may 
thus be cured of his habit of obstinacy. This prin- 
ciple can be applied to advance the interests of 
children as well as to cure traits of disposition that 
are not desirable. The teacher who wishes to ac- 
complish results along these lines will carefully study 
the dispositions of pupils; and further, watch for 
every advantage whereby he may tactfully apply 
the principle of leading suggestion for the further- 
ance of effective work. 

Imitation 

Reference has been made to imitation as being 
closely connected with suggestion. Its further dis- 
cussion is in place here. Aristotle said, *'Man is 
the most imitative of animals, and makes his first 
steps In learning by the aid of imitation." The 



130 Practical School Discipline 

thought has a broader application. The first steps 
in all of the child's activities are made because of 
imitation. The first phase in the gaining of power 
and facility in action is imitation of the action of 
another. It is highly important for the teacher 
to remember, in attempting to direct boys and 
girls, that all are imitators of those whom they 
admire. Men have been described as the composite 
of all those who have directly or indirectly made 
some impress upon their lives. Too great care can- 
not be exercised as to the kind of associations and 
friendships pupils make, as each contact will leave 
its effect upon them for good or for evil. The 
teacher is the most important associate and friend 
of many, many pupils; consequently, it is of the 
utmost importance that his life conform to the best 
standards of character. Imitation is an inborn dis- 
position which is not learned but precedes learning. 
In fact, it is a means employed in learning. 
By using both imitation and suggestion properly, the 
teacher will have a device that will go a great way 
toward his success in discipline. 

In another volume entitled **Applied Methods," 
a book which gives the practical applications of our 
fundamental principles — the principle of suggestion 
will be applied to various school-room difficulties. 
The application will be made in such a manner that 
the teacher can easily understand its use to best 
advantage in his own problems of discipline. All 
other fundamental principles discussed will be shown 



Fundamental Principles 131 



in their practical applications. This will leave no 
doubt in the teacher's mind as to the use of funda- 
mental principles in school-room problems. 

The Principle of Approval 

The next principle under consideration is the 
principle of approval. The desire for approval 
appears early in childhood, and continues through 
life. It acts both as a restraint and as an impulse, 
and is often an active principle in human conduct. 
No true child is insensible to the good opinions of 
his classmates or to the commendation of his teacher. 
It has been wisely said, "A young man is not far 
from ruin when he can say with honesty, *I don't 
care what others think about me.' " He has lost a 
needed check against evil and a beneficent impulse 
toward right action. 

Just how far the application of the principle of 
approval may justly extend in school-room discipline, 
does not occur to the average teacher. It is very 
safe to assume that the principle of approval rightly 
used would be an effective preventative of three- 
fourths of the perplexities that harass the teacher 
in the school-room. The usual process of dealing 
with a fault, is to aggravate it by constant reference 
to it. This is wrong. But the teacher replies, *'How 
can a fault be removed except the child be constantly 
reminded of its existence, and also reminded of the 
corrective?" The teacher, too, may add that re- 
minding the pupil of his fault is not disapproval, 
unless it be done in a fault-finding manner. That 



132 Practical School Discipline 

may all be very true. But the principle of approval 
can affect the cure. The following incident well 
illustrates the point. 

Some years ago there lived in one of the coast 
towns of Maine, a big-hearted seaman, who was 
considerably worried about his only son's stoop 
shoulders. In the kindliest manner possible, he had 
reminded his son almost daily, that he should throw 
back his shoulders. The son understood his father's 
kindness and interest in the matter and at no time 
felt that his father was finding fault with him. 
However, the boy continued to be stoop shouldered. 
An uncle happened into the house one day for a 
visit of several weeks. The uncle was soon annoyed 
by the constancy and utter uselessness of the father's 
corrective for his son's stoop shoulders. The uncle 
called the father aside and asked him if he would 
not allow him to make an attempt at correcting the 
boy's stoop shoulders. The father gladly agreed 
and also consented to have nothing whatever to do 
with the affair. He felt that he had done all he 
could and was unable to guess what method the 
uncle would pursue. The uncle very shrewdly saw 
a condition of the lad that he might approve and 
thereby he would be able to correct the stoop shoul- 
ders. The lad knew nothing of his uncle's plans, 
and for that reason responded the more readily, all 
unconscious of the process at work. On the follow- 
ing morning the father was amused to see the uncle 
give his son a jovial slap on the chest, and hear him 
remark, "Say, Tom, that is some chest." No more 



Fundamental Principles 133 

was observed by the father for that day. But the 
day following, the uncle again slapped the boy on 
the chest, remarking, ''I believe you will have a 
broader and fuller chest than I have;" at the same 
time displaying his chest well filled out. Casual re- 
marks of this kind were dropped at opportune times. 
Tom's chest expanded until the stoop shoulders 
disappeared. The cure was effective. The boy did 
not realize that a double effect would follow his 
breathing properly. Approval won where disap- 
proval failed. 

Many a teacher has ruined the best of his pupils 
by constantly finding fault with, or disapproving of 
their small faults and inabilities; while on the other 
hand many a prudent teacher has made a good pupil 
out of one who promised to be but a dullard by 
commending those small things which he could do, 
and entirely overlooking the things that he was un- 
able to do. If attention was called to what he could 
not do well, it was only to offer some friendly as- 
sistance. It is a fact that must not be forgotten that 
any activity is made easier by its constant repetition. 
Thus, if the small things that the pupil can do are 
approved he naturally will work the harder and 
thereby gain strength, until he has become a master 
of himself accomplishing the most difficult tasks. 

This principle is broadly applicable to all school- 
work. There is no child that cannot do something 
in every phase of school-work. This "something" 
the teacher should approve. It will without fall 
stimulate the child to the fullest use of his ability. 



134 Practical School Discipline 

The teacher should not ignore that which the child 
fails to accomplish; the task is often too difficult. 
Only such work should be assigned as can be done, 
and the necessary assistance should be given; by no 
means should disapproval be meted out. This plan 
followed conscientiously will improve the most back- 
ward child. The question may be asked, "What 
about the pupil who is indifferent or neglects to com- 
plete his work?" It is well to approve that which 
he does. If the teacher is sure the pupil is indiffer- 
ent or negligent, the child should be told the truth 
about his work and have his attention called to his 
ability to do better work. To approve wisely and 
effectively does not mean to deceive. 

In the matter of school-room discipline, the 
principle of approval is even more valuable than 
in school-room instruction. Everyone believes that 
no boy or girl is so depraved that some good traits 
cannot be found. At some time they will manifest 
their kindlier natures and do those things which 
should elicit approval. Whenever such pupils do 
anything worth while It gives the teacher opportu- 
nity to use the word or look of approval. This will 
encourage them to repeat whatever elicits approval. 
It will increase the frequency of such acts and create 
a desire to do other things that are worth while. 
It Is a time-honored saying that if all one's time Is 
taken up In doing good deeds, there will be no time 
left for evil deeds. This is no vague notion as to 
the child's life. Whatever Increases the time spent 



Fundamental Principles 135 

in doing things worth while will decrease the time 
left for worthlessness and idleness. 

But what shall be done with those actions of the 
pupil that are annoying? They cannot be approved. 
Should they be disapproved? Yes. But with cau- 
tion. Should the teacher find fault with the pupil 
on account of his misdemeanors? No, decidedly no. 
It is the province of the teacher to assist the children 
under his tuition. Their faults and misdemeanors 
should not be tools in the teacher's hands to be used 
against them. Such a procedure would be a crime. 
Then how shall their faults and misdemeanors be 
treated? 

The teacher who will succeed, will call the pupil 
who has annoyed him aside and in a business-like 
manner discuss the misdemeanor with the pupil. The 
teacher must not accuse the pupil but ask him for 
information; if the teacher has met his pupil in a 
kindly way, he will get the desired information; the 
teacher should admit anything in which he may have 
been at fault and then ask the pupil to admit his own 
fault. At this point the teacher should never express 
his opinion about the misdemeanor, before he has 
asked the pupil to give his own opinion about the 
action in controversy. With few exceptions the 
pupil will express himself correctly about the mis- 
demeanor. The shrewd teacher will then agree with 
his pupil, and in an offhand way add any variance of 
opinion or give suggestions. If this method is 
followed by a teacher in a kindly but firm mood, the 
difficulty will have been dealt with in the correct 



136 Practical School Discipline 

manner. The fault will doubtless not be repeated 
by the pupil. And without fail the teacher will have 
another firm and true friend in this child. 

While much importance Is attached to the teach- 
er's correct use of the principle of approval, still 
more is demanded of him. The value of approval 
clearly depends upon its source — on the character of 
him who approves. The approval of the wicked or 
unscrupulous teacher is a snare. The approval of 
the wise and good teacher can never be valued too 
highly. A teacher must watch lest his pupils put 
approval before honor and duty. The motive which 
the teacher must seek to cultivate, is not a craving 
for unmerited praise and flattery, but a desire to 
merit approval; and, this involves no surrender of 
conscience or honor. This is a worthy motive, but 
it must be remembered that it can easily be sub- 
merged under pride and vanity. 

The degree of satisfaction to the child resulting 
from approval depends upon his esteem for those 
who bestow It. The satisfaction that comes from 
approval of one's equals, as classmates, is less than 
that which comes from one's superiors, as parents 
or teachers. What has been said is sufficient to show 
that the teacher needs to be very careful in the use 
of approval as a disciplinary device. The one thing 
to be avoided is false praise or flattery. No weak- 
ness in the pupil is more easily aroused, or with more 
difficulty suppressed than vanity. The desire for 
praise, and especially public praise, grows on its own 
gratification; the more the child gets the more he 



■ Fundamental Principles 137 

wants. It is a good rule to speak ten words of 
commendation to one of censure; but the commen- 
dation should be sincere and honest and the censure 
kind and just. Finally, it may be concluded that 
whatever of good may come from the use of the 
principle of approval in discipline, depends in a 
large measure upon the teacher. 

Encouragement 

Broadly speaking, encouragement is involved in 
the principle of approval. Some years ago a young 
man (Mr. X) of marked ability but of such a tem- 
perament that he was easily discouraged, was pre- 
vented from teaching school by some crafty scheme 
of the county superintendent and others who were 
opposed to the young man. Mr. X was thoroughly 
prepared to teach and far worthier in character than 
the county superintendent and his accomplices. A 
friend of the applicant, chancing to be with him one 
evening in August just at sunset, took occasion in 
view of the beautiful sunset to tell the young man 
how much beauty there is in life. He explained, 
that adversities, such as he had just experienced are 
only stepping stones to nobler efforts. He told him 
not to heed the discouragement, but go right on in 
his chosen work and success would crown his efforts; 
and that after all, life was so full of beauty that it 
would overshadow all difficulties. The young man 
and his friend parted. The friend had forgotten 
Mr. X and did not know of his whereabouts until 
one day a letter came to him from the young fellow. 
The following extract from the letter will explain 



138 Practical School Discipline 

how encouraging was the talk of a few years before. 
"I now have a good position in this city (the city 
was Akron, Ohio) and can also teach if I care to. 
I have often been discouraged, but remembered your 
talk and resolved upon this sentiment for myself: 
'There are two ways in life and if young* men and 
women would consider these ways soberly and ear- 
nestly before moving onward they would choose the 
one which truth and reason tell them will lead to 
honor, success and happiness.' You and I know the 
other way too well to need description. Life is not 
mean; it is grand. If it is mean to anyone he makes 
it so himself. God made it glorious. How much life 
means to every individual, words cannot explain. 
I have often been discouraged but I looked upon the 
bright side and went on." There could be no more 
eloquent appeal for encouragement as a device in 
the hands of the serious teacher. Many are the times 
and opportunities when a teacher can speak an 
encouraging word and thereby send a life into a 
fuller realization of its worth. 

Sometimes the best pupil in the school meets with 
adversities (and they will come to every individual 
ofttimes in life) ; they would overwhelm him were 
it not for an encouraging word from a thoughtful 
teacher. Every teacher should keenly realize that 
it is a part of his work, his actual duty to lend 
encouragement to his pupils. If the lessons are 
hard, the teacher must encourage; if the pupil has 
fallen into one or more of the petty temptations that 
beset children on every side, the teacher must for- 



Fundamental Principles 139 



give and forget, and point out corrective measures, 
thereby reassuring him and if the pupil has failed 
the teacher must comfort him. It was Lowell who 
said, "Not failure, but low aim, is crime." Every 
teacher can be a source of great good if he will 
wisely help and encourage where encouragement Is 
needed. Such a teacher's work will live long after 
he is gone, and he will be kindly remembered by 
many who are treading life's pathways. 

A few years ago a young man sought to enter 
Columbia University for his last year of college 
work, and discovered that he w^as quite deficient in 
language requirements. Just as he was about to 
leave the college and give up the fond hope of 
completing his education, he was accosted by a fra- 
ternity man, who was a stranger, but who soon made 
himself a friend and so encouraged and inspired 
the young student that he took double work and 
succeeded in finishing his college education. That 
young student is now a man occupying a useful and 
worthy place of trust in a large institution. The 
teacher who can encourage a pupil as the fraternity 
man reassured the young student, will have no 
trouble in discipline with that pupil. The pupil who 
has been saved from despair always has a warmth 
of feeling for the one who thus inspired him. 

The Principle of Initiative in Co-operation 

Speaking of the child, Arthur Holmes^ says, "He 
is organic, living, developing. He cannot be kneaded 

'^Principles of Character Making, p. 1. Lippincott. 



140 Practical School Discipline 



like dough, nor hammered like iron, nor carved like 
marble, but he can be guided like a vine upon a 
trellis." 

This work of directing the life of a child is spe- 
cially represented by some act which brings satis- 
faction to the pupil and so begins an interplay qf 
personal forces that leads the pupil to have confi- 
dence in the teacher. 

To mark off this kind of action we choose to 
name the principle involved in it the Principle of 
Initiative in Co-operation. 

Experience shows that no person can have the 
desired educative influence over a child unless it be 
by doing deeds that draw forth the child's appre- 
ciation. The turn of affairs in the school depends 
on the teacher. He must choose and choose wisely 
if his control over the pupils is adequate. He must 
take the initiative in establishing good relations and 
in maintaining them. 

In the discussion following, the term co-operation 
is used, but it is to be understood that the teacher 
thoughtfully takes the first step in all acts of co- 
operation, anticipating, of course, the pupils' reac- 
tions to all of his acts of service. 

There is no greater principle in discipline than 
that of co-operation. No other one is more potent 
among the teacher's devices. But it is a fact, much 
to be regretted, that no principle is used less in the 
school-room. The fact is that a majority of teach- 



Fundamental Principles 141 

ers do not realize what disciplinary co-operation 
means. Its skillful use as an instrument of good 
government is unknown to them. 

The inquiring teacher asks for an explanation of 
the principle of co-operation It means a gratifying 
or yielding to a child's wishes or desires. Or, it is 
a forbearance from restraint or control. It may be 
gratitude for a favor granted; no doubt some teach- 
ers need to ''Learn the luxury of doing good." 

Leniency and tolerance are forms of co-operation. 
The term certainly denotes companionship in per- 
forming every school duty. 

Co-operation requires mutual understanding and 
sympathy. Clearly demonstrated by Pestalozzi, 
this fundamental method of child management has 
found recent advocates in the founders of the Gary 
and Fairhope systems of instruction. 

The question comes up at once, "Will not devia- 
tion from a uniform firmness which is implied in co- 
operation weaken discipline?" Upon close exami- 
nation the opposite will be found to be true. It has 
been explained that the real end of discipline is 
self-control on the part of the child and further that 
self-control is the basal element in character. 

Co-operation demands that we understand the na- 
ture of the child and enjoy giving him freedom, at 
the same time working with him, not over him. 

The home or the school which manages children 
by the use of authority chiefly is not v/orking to- 
ward the true object of discipline, but away from it. 
The child who is constantly governed, who has all 



142 Practical School Discipline 

his decisions formed by some one else, has all his 
motives influenced by a parent or teacher, in fact, 
his every activity controlled by another mind, will 
be weak in self-mastery. How can he learn to coa 
trol himself if he is always under the will of an- 
other? Similar questions that will help the reader 
to understand might be asked. For example: how 
can a boy learn to swim if he is not allowed in the 
water? How can a girl learn to sew if she is not 
given sewing materials? Then is it not ju&t as 
logical to ask : how can a child learn to control him- 
self if he is not given the opportunity to learn? It 
is to be feared that too many teachers have had the 
wrong idea of discipline; namely, that it means to 
have a child constantly under restraint. That is 
erroneous. Neither discipline nor authority requires 
that. True discipline is that which directs the child 
to become a self-governing individual, so that when 
he leaves the school, he can go into the world and 
lead an efficient life. Happy is such a child, but 
unfortunate is the child who has been so much sub- 
jected to another that when he must face the reali- 
ties of life he still needs a guiding hand. 

The following incident is very much to the point. 
It is the story of two mothers. Each had a son who 
had reached his majority and was ready to step 
onto the threshhold of the world. Said the one 
mother to the other, "I am so fearful for my boy 
when he gets into the world. I have controlled him 
so carefully, that when he cannot have my oversight, 
I am sure he will go into wrong paths." The other 
mother replied, "I am not at all concerned about my 



Fundamental Principles 143 

boy. I have kept close to the life of my son, help- 
ing him yet training him for independent action. I 
am confident that with his ability to control himself 
he need have no fears that the conflicts of life will 
overwhelm him. I am assured that he will succeed." 
The latter mother had a true conception of disci- 
pline. The notion of discipline that the former 
mother had, is too prevalent among teachers. It is 
well worth repeating, that true discipline is the kind 
which trains the child to be self-governing. 

Remember that any deviation from the routine of 
school discipline, any pleasure that may be granted, 
any offense that may be forgiven, any aid in per- 
forming a task that may be difficult, in short any ser- 
vice that shows your devotion to the child's welfare 
may be considered co-operation. 

The principle of co-operation when properly ap- 
plied will very materially strengthen discipline. The 
boy or girl whose every activity is controlled is 
being robbed of the greatest gift that the school can 
give — self-control. "All seeming suppression of 
impulses will be found to be based upon expression 
of other impulses, not upon sheer brute repression." ^ 
Boys and girls must be compelled to make decisions 
for themselves. But some one will say, "In making 
their own decisions they may blunder and decide in 
the wrong way." No permanent harm need result. 
Experience is the wisest of teachers. Children can- 
not be taught in the school of every-day life until 

^Angell, op. cit. p. 436. 



144 Practical School Discipline 

they enter into its experiences; and fortunate are 
they, when they enter, if they have been taught care- 
fully the lessons of self-control by some prudent 
parent or teacher. It will make them stronger if 
they must help themselves over their own difficulties. 
This does not mean that the teacher must not have 
taught the principles of self-control. The real test 
of good teaching will come when the boys and girls 
are compelled to hold their own in the world. 

Those who have read Myrtle Reed's "The 
Master's Violin,*' will recall how Mrs. Irving 
never allowed her son, Lynn, to solve any of his 
own difficulties. Instead of co-operating with him 
she dominated him. She was his mind and bore his 
trials as well as all his joys and sorrows. He was 
often eager to dive into the world with all its 
temptations and perplexities, but she could not per- 
mit him to get away from her authority. She was 
not an unkind mother, but she was not a wise 
mother. When he desired to mingle with the street 
lads she would not indulge him lest he become con- 
taminated. She restrained him from everything 
which to her seemed to forecast any danger. She 
could not tolerate that he should have boyhood 
fancies and passions. Instead of guiding him wisely 
through his boyhood problems, she laid the hand of 
restraint upon him. Her authority was firm though 
not unkind. The day finally came when she could 
no longer solve or mitigate her son's problems. 
Life brought to him what it may bring to all, dark 
troubles, hidden within the soul. He was untutored 



Fundamental Principles 145 



and unprepared to meet his trials; his mother could 
not meet them for him ; she had only greatly weak- 
ened her boy, she had not prepared him by sensible 
discipline to meet his troubles. Had she allowed 
him to experience some of the problems that must 
confront every child, he would have been prepared 
to meet his later trials. He could not escape, so in 
the bitterest agony he was compelled to fight his own 
battles at a grievous loss. 

A certain fifth grade teacher — In the fifth grade 
are often found some most troublesome boys — dis- 
covered that by gaining their friendship she could 
control and discipline her room perfectly. Fre- 
quently, all the pupils were allowed to spend an 
hour or two in some nearby forest, if in the country, 
or a park if in the city, because they had behaved 
well. Sometimes school was suspended for a short 
time and every pupil was allowed to tell a story. 
This same teacher often checked an unruly boy who 
seemed on the verge of some impending mischief, 
by asking him a question about that which was of 
the most interest to him. This might be about his 
pets, his gun, the striking novelties In some recent 
lesson, or even about some imaginary trip. 

It is not unusual that healthy pupils even though 
well reared should be mischievous; this Is due to 
surplus energy. The teacher, who could make him- 
self believe that such children are his enemies. Is In 
the wrong profession. It is, Indeed, a pleasure to 
work with pupils exuberant with energy. This 
energy directed into the proper channels will Insure 



146 Practical School Discipline 

growth of character in boys and girls. A certain 
superintendent in a small school in Western Ohio 
found himself in a high school where the pupils 
never tired of playing tricks. They cut down the 
bell rope, turned mice loose in school, imitated a 
cat in another room and did all kinds of tricks for 
fun. The superintendent was new in the school, but 
it did not take him long to learn that it was all due 
to a surplus of energy in healthful boys and girls. 
His solution was to use this energy. To this end he 
set about at once securing funds to build a gymna- 
sium. The Board of Education could not finance 
the undertaking, so he enlisted the corps of teachers 
and together they secured funds by private subscrip- 
tion to build the gymnasium. After the gymnasium 
was finished, the superintendent taught the classes 
in calisthenics and physical culture. More than 
once, without discussing it with the boys and girls, 
he directed the entire high school twice a day, for 
fifteen to thirty minutes longer than the usual recess 
period; the time was used for physical education: 
work in folk dances, games and gymnastics. When 
the pupils returned to the school-room, their surplus 
energy was worked off, their blood was filled with 
oxygen and they were very studious. He even ar- 
ranged that those who were excellent in deportment 
might attend a night class, where interesting games 
were played. He had boys' basketball teams, girls' 
basketball teams, volley ball clubs, roller skating 
clubs, track work, Saturday afternoon clubs, and 
other activities which delighted the pupils. Because 



Fundamental Principles 147 

of this the mischievous pranks disappeared entirely 
and the efficiency of the pupils was increased 
nearly fifty per cent. The high school enrolled 
seventy pupils on the first day. During the year 
only three dropped out, making the per cent of at- 
tendance ninety-five, which is a very good record. 

Initiative in co-operation, as it is here dis- 
cussed, must not be confused with the common 
practice of parents who buy their children's good 
behavior. It is all too common and one of 
the worst faults of parents, to tell their children 
that they will give them a penny, or some 
candy or other articles pleasing to the children 
if they will behave while company is in the 
horhe. This may be called a form of compact, but 
it is simply a wrong use of co-operation. Many 
teachers resort to just such a system of purchasing 
good behavior or good lessons. This is wrong. 
The proper use of reciprocity has a worthier motive 
in it. The teacher who rules by prudent companion- 
ship is kindhearted and sympathetic, has a broad 
outlook on child life, and a spirit that can forgive 
and forget, and take back into his love and sym- 
pathy the erring pupil. 

There are many ways of giving freedom to a 
pupil which will work to his advancement and ad- 
vantage. It is true, as it is in all school work, that 
caution is necessary, that the true end sought by the 
device should not be defeated. Every teacher 
knows how kindly a pupil will feel toward him, if he 
is allowed to share in some of the duties to which 



148 Practical School Discipline 



great honor is attached. This privilege can be given 
for good lessons, good behavior, punctuality or any 
kind of effort in school work. Some pupils like to 
draw, others to do favors for the teacher, even 
some will feel that the teacher appreciates them, if 
they can work problems on the black-board, go to 
the manual training or domestic science room. It is 
indeed a splendid and effective indulgence to allow 
any pupil, whether he is the best or the most indif- 
ferent one, to run an errand for the teacher. To let 
a boy, who feels that everybody distrusts him, run 
down town, or if it is in the country, to town after 
dismissals and make a trivial purchase for the 
teacher, will make him gain, first, confidence in him- 
self, and then in his teacher, because of the fact that 
his teacher has confidence in him. Should a pupil 
abuse the privileges extended to him as indulgences, 
then the teacher, without any explanation can with- 
hold the privileges for a few days. He will soon 
find his pupil asking for, or that which is better, de- 
serving the privilege. It can be granted, and it is 
safe to assume that the pupil will take care not to 
forfeit his privileges again. 

In the primary grades, the little ones like the 
sand-pile, the colored blocks, the privilege of lead- 
ing the procession, or drawing on the black-board 
with colored crayons, of putting the teacher's desk 
in order, of watering the flowers in the school-room 
windows, of running errands, and a score of similar 
activities. They will work hard for hours, or act 
with great self-restraint, in order to enjoy one 



Fundamental Principles 149 

of the above accessories of the regular school work. 
They feel that they are co-operating with the 
teacher when they work for her. In the grammar 
grades pupils often beg the privilege of holding a 
spelling-match. It may often be well to indulge 
them. They will appreciate it and have a deeper 
respect for the teacher. 

It Is too Important a matter of school-room dis- 
cipline, and means far too much in the future of 
many a boy's or girl's life, to overlook the fact 
that if pupils are met with authority only they will 
challenge that authority. No teacher will deny that 
if he allows his pupils many pleasurable privileges, 
they will be obedient to his wishes because he is 
obedient to their wishes. One does not need to 
go far to find a teacher who has kept many a boy 
from smoking, chewing tobacco, gambling or re- 
sorting to evil practices, all because that teacher 
gave the boy his friendship, and filled his life with 
innocent pleasure. The boy's own words — and they 
are often heard — bear testimony to the fact. Who 
has not heard a boy say, "That teacher wanted us 
to have a good time, I liked him because he liked the 
boys, I minded him because he knew what was good 
for us." What teacher could not feel proud of 
such an encomium ? It is a reward far more lasting 
than any stipend for the teacher's work. 

It IS not the purpose of this Course to enter Into 
the discussion of why pupils indulge in many evil 
practices, but the teacher should know that often 
privileges that lead to no harm are denied pupils; 



150 Practical School Discipline 

this causes them to seek to break away from re- 
straint. As a rule pupils do not admire or like a 
teacher who denies them the privileges they seek. 
Because of this dislike they are prone to antagonize 
the teacher as much as possible, thus making disci- 
pline a more difficult problem for him. Besides, they 
will do many things unknown to the teacher that 
will lead to evil. Every one can recall a school 
where every pupil seemed bent on getting into mis- 
chief, where the girls were out late at night, the 
boys frequented pool-rooms and often saloons, 
smoked, attended questionable dances and were 
vicious generally. On the other hand, schools can 
be recalled where all the pupils seemed well- 
behaved. In the former instance the teacher was a 
cold, formal individual who did not indulge his 
pupils in those many pleasures that amuse and please 
and keep them out of mischief. In the latter in- 
stance the teacher was a big-hearted, sympathetic 
individual, who loved the boys and girls. He made 
room for their youthful sports and even entered 
into the games himself. Thus he could lead his 
pupils into nobler lives because he acted as one of 
their number. 

A teacher who wishes to render efficient service 
in his work and make himself more successful in 
discipline, will use the principle of co-operation. It 
would be worth while to spend a week or two ob- 
serving all the exercises and activities of the school 
and to keep a memorandum of every phase of the 
work which could be improved by working more 



Fundamental Principles . 151 

Intimately with the pupils. The teacher who dis- 
cretely employs the principle of co-operation in dis- 
cipline zuill iinprove his ability to govern fifty per 
cent. But the good to the pupils that will result will 
be gratifying and lasting. For discipline is a failure 
if the results do not appear in the child's entire life. 

Consistency 

While good results can be obtained by the use 
of co-operation, yet it can be made effective only by 
practicing consistency. In the application of the 
principle of co-operation in discipline, the teacher 
needs to be consistent. The entire school should be 
treated as a unit. Particular pupils should not be 
singled out as recipients of the teacher's companion- 
ship. Such a procedure would defeat the effective- 
ness of the principle. Many pupils are so amiable 
that they are more closely associated with the 
teacher than more diffident and bashful pupils. 
Such pupils will naturally secure for themselves a 
goodly share of the privileges given by the teacher 
— not because they are selfish, but because they are 
more forward. Thus it will happen that the dif- 
fident pupil will get few or no privileges from 
the teacher. This will work great evil in a school. 
Soon some one will accuse the teacher of being 
partial when In reality the teacher is not at fault, 
since the forward pupil really causes the teacher 
to seem partial. Teachers must guard against this 
condition, for often parents misunderstand the situ- 
ation and likewise accuse the teacher of being par- 



152 Practical School Discipline 

tial. When this happens his Influence is under- 
mined. A careful teacher will explain to his pupils 
that the confident pupil gets more from the teacher 
than the diffident and bashful pupil. It is his duty 
to insist that the diffident pupil help himself to all 
privileges. The teacher needs often to aid bashful 
pupils to get privileges ; he should In many Instances 
seek to reassure such pupils. This will lead them 
to love and cherish him. No teacher has not had 
pupils who Invited him Into their homes, desired to 
walk with him, took him riding, or brought him 
various little favors. The sociable teacher will ac- 
cept with good grace all these kindnesses that pupils 
extend to him. But here It happens that many 
pupils will not offer their teachers such favors. This 
would be well If other pupils did not infer that the 
teacher Is partial. He should make it plain that he 
loves his pupils all alike, though some treat him with 
more consideration than others. 

A common fault with teachers who Indulge their 
pupils is that sometimes they meet- with adversity 
in the form of an Irate parent or some Incompatible 
person and because of their ruffled spirits they spend 
a day In the school-room without showing even 
friendship to the pupils. The next day their feel- 
ings are placated and, somehow. In trying to make 
up lost time they make unwise use of Indulgence, 
Such a lack of day by day consistency will surely 
destroy the effectiveness of companionship. 

A principal of a well-known high school had 
accustomed himself to be very friendly and amiable 



Fundamental Pri-nciples 153 

outside of the school, but when he was in the 
school-room his manner was antagonistic. He 
seemed unfriendly and not at all courteous to his 
pupils. This contrast of mannerism or tempera- 
ment had become so marked that many of the pupils 
wondered why he did not conduct himself in the 
school-room as he did on the street. Most of his 
pupils disliked him but admitted that they could 
admire him, were he to conduct himself as amiably 
in the school-room as he did outside. This principal 
failed to practice a consistency in his life which is 
so necessary to make and hold friends. 

The Principle of Substitution 

The law is, "Resist not evil," for in resisting it, 
it is only aggravated, "but overcome evil with 
good." When in darkness, fight it not, but strike 
a light. When dealing with vice, excite it not, but 
awaken a positive virtue. If a child has a fault, 
ignore the fact as much as possible, and develop 
his better nature. Encourage a virtue and a vice 
may disappear. 

This law is universal in its application. The 
teaching profession has yet to learn its significance. 
It can be termed the Principle of Substitution. It 
means that when one thing is taken out of a life, 
something else must be put in to fill up the void. 
When parents and teachers come fully to appre- 
ciate this principle and magnify virtue, honor and 
character in the child — ignoring his evil tendencies 
— then, and only then, will it be possible to develop 
every child into noble manhood or womanhood. 



154 Practical School Discipline 

Positive virtues make vice impossible. Aggres- 
sive goodness leaves no room for evil. Pronounced 
righteousness once developed in a child, the prob- 
lem of his government is settled. It is prudent to 
ignore his tendency not to study when inculcating the 
habit of study in the pupil. The habits of idleness, 
inattentiveness, irregularity and others detrimental 
to a pupil's welfare can only be eliminated from his 
life by inciting opposite habits. Great as may be the 
principles of suggestion, approval and co-operation, 
no greater principle can be discussed than that of 
substitution. It is a principle widely useful in many 
diverse activities. Just as it is practical in other 
fields, so it is feasible and useful in school-room dis- 
cipline. 

The street gamins of New York and other large 
cities are addicted to many bad habits. They lie, 
steal, swear, gamble and practice many other vices. 
They learn these vices by observing them in others 
and since there are no other activities to engage 
their attention, they live from day to day in habitual 
vice until they become criminals. The settlement 
workers and such Institutions as the George Junior 
Republic, work upon the principle of substitution 
when they take these boys into their reformatory 
institutions. In them, the boy Is not asked to quit 
his vices; on the contrary, nothing is said or even 
suggested about his former evil habits. Instead, his 
day of twenty-four hours is filled with other employ- 
ment, so that he has no time left to indulge himself 
in any of his former evil habits. This practice Is 



Fundamental Principles 155 



kept up until the boy has acquired as habits the 
activities of the settlement. When he has reached 
this stage, he can enter the world. It is true that 
some of the most worthy men of this day are prod- 
ucts of boy settlements. 

A typical day at a boys' settlement will include 
a morning bath and toilet which will send the boy 
freshened and cleanly to his breakfast which is 
preceded by a short prayer and Bible reading or 
some other form of devotional exercise^ After 
breakfast the boys take up their school work, or 
occupation and continue until noon, when they get 
their noon-day meal and an hour or two of rest. 
Care is taken that the rest is rather a change of 
occupation than idleness. The boys play games or 
read. In the afternoon some school work and oc- 
cupational duties are done. Part of the afternoon 
is spent in some recreation which the boys enjoy. 
Similarly their time is occupied until supper. Fol- 
lowing supper, games, reading and any other forms 
of recreation that will interest the boys are provid- 
ed. At a reasonable hour the boys retire. After 
such an active day, they are usually tired and sleep 
well until morning when the same routine is fol- 
lowed for another day. When it is feared the boys 
may tire of their work, enough of a change is made 
to keep them satisfied. The work is all conducted 
in such a way that interest is paramount. From the 
above it can readily be seen that boys in such cir- 
cumstances have little time for evil deeds. 

There is no question but that the same principle 
can be used in the school-room to great advantage. 



156 Practical School Discipline 

The following are truthful maxims: "Idleness 
breeds vice" and "The devil finds some mischief 
for idle hands to do." The school-room in which 
everybody is busy is a quiet school-room. There 
will not be the proverbial "pin-drop" quietness, but 
the little noise that can be heard will be a noise 
of busy pupils. Very often, teachers in planning 
their daily programs, fail to have the work so ar- 
ranged as to utilize every minute; then in the inter- 
val when the pupils have a lull from their work, 
they find time to perpetrate mischief. 

Another prolific source of mischief is the recess 
period. The greater majority of teachers believe 
the pupils will take care of themselves during the 
recess periods and the noon intermission. It is true 
that some of the pupils do use the time profitably, 
but too often, it is a lounging period and the real 
aim of the intermissions is not carried out, but 
rather that which is least desirable results. It will 
be a great step in the direction of advancement 
when there will be no longer a free-for-all recess 
or noon intermission, but instead supervised play 
periods in which every pupil must take part. It is 
just as reasonable to compel a pupil to take regular 
recreation as it is to demand that he learn his arith- 
metic or history lesson. It is more important. He 
must have a strong healthy body and it can only 
be made and kept so by regular recreation. The 
arrangement for getting pupils to the play ground 
and from it to the school building again, should 
be carefully planned. Opportunities for mischief 
should be eliminated. As soon as pupils are seated, 



Fundamental Principles 157 

work and study should begin. Habits of ease and 
quietness are easily cultivated in pupils. Whatever 
of useful employment and recreation takes up the 
time of the pupils, leaves no time for idleness and 
mischief. 

It is worth mentioning that many children are 
opposed to supervised play. There are parents 
too who oppose it. There are several reasons for 
this opposition. First, the opposition is due to the 
lack of knowledge of child life on the part of the 
teacher or those who supervise the play of children. 
Children very naturally follow a leader and if the 
teacher is a lover of children and their sports, he 
will be their leader. It is not uncommon on the 
play ground to see the boys and girls flock to an 
adult who is a real lover of sports. This shows 
that they really like older folks in their games. 
So whenever such an objection arises it is very 
necessary that the teacher or supervisor examine 
himself for the cause of the opposition and then 
speedily remedy the defect. Another reason is this, 
however much we regret it — nevertheless, it is true 
— there are many children especially in grammar 
grades and high school who like to use slang or sug- 
gestive language and often indulge in practices that 
are little less than immodest. Such children could 
not be friendly to a supervisor. But it is essential 
that such children should have a supervisor for their 
own good. Boys and girls who conduct themselves 
in this fashion will not unaided make virtuous men 
and women. It is hard to conceive of parents who 
would object to supervised play, but in face of the 



158 Practical School Discipline 

fact that many parents are strong agents in the 
weakening of their children's characters, it becomes 
the more necessary for the teacher to be fearless 
and supervise the play. A good teacher must many 
times do that which parents will not approve, but 
it is his duty to act always according to his best 
judgment. 

The following story was told by an old man. 
He said that when he was young he was quite 
wicked; among the evils in which he indulged was 
evil thinking and vulgar and blasphemous language. 
He had become so offensive that many people 
shunned him. He was aware of his condition but was 
unable to change himself. One day a friend advised 
him to memorize a number of good poems and 
sacred songs. Whenever his mind should revert 
to evil thoughts or he had a desire to use vile lan- 
guage, he was to repeat the poems, or if he was 
where he could sing, he was to sing some of the 
sacred songs. He did as he was advised. Persist- 
ently he followed his friend's counsel, and In less 
than six months* time, he had cured himself of his 
evil-mindedness and the use of vile and blasphemous 
language. 

The same principle of substitution that the old 
man used when he was a youth is very applicable 
to many problems that arise in the school-room. 
Of course, it must be borne in mind that the teacher 
does not have the child for the entire day, and 
that the home may offset much that the teacher 
does. If such is the case, the teacher's only chance 



Fundamental Principles 159 



of success is to solicit the aid of the home. While 
he may not be able to do this in every instance, it 
is fair to assume he will get the home aid necessary 
in almost every case. All voluntary acts of the 
child are founded upon some motive. The teacher's 
attack against any bad habit of a pupil must not 
be a direct attack against the habit itself. Another 
type of action should be substituted for it. It is 
a very homely illustration but nevertheless true, 
that a cesspool cannot be removed by removing the 
refuse. It will fill up again. But if the pool is 
filled with good solid earth, the pool will not return 
again. So it is with an evil in any child's or adult's 
life. If the evil is removed, put a positive good 
habit or activity in its place or the evil habit will 
return. It Is often the case that the evil habit 
crowds out the good habit after it has been admitted 
into the child's life. This cannot happen under 
the watchful care of a good teacher. 

The principle of substitution may be likened to 
the planting of a lily garden where once flourished 
a bed of thistles. The teacher must ever be on 
the lookout for a place where he can plant a posi- 
tive virtue. When planted it must be nurtured and 
cared for until it reaches perfection. It will then 
crowd but at least one vice. Discouragement should 
not thwart the teacher in his attempts to eliminate 
evil from a child's life. His duty is clear and he 
should summon every aid to his assistance In order 
to accomplish his purpose. 



160 Practical School Discipline 

The Principle of Expectancy 

"Seek and ye shall find." **Knock and it shall 
be opened," are Bibical injunctions that embody 
more truth than appears on the surface. Just as 
true is it to say, ^'Expect and ye shall receive what 
ye expect." The following true incident is very 
much to the point and worth repeating. 

During the first few years of the nineteenth 
century a French lad was learning to be a drummer 
for the French Army. Among the various selec- 
tions of army music which he was required to learn 
was a retreat. When it came time to learn the army 
retreat, he refused, telling his teacher that he never 
expected to beat a retreat. "But," said the teacher, 
"no army can be so victorious but that sometime 
in its career it must retreat." Again the boy re- 
plied, "I never expect to beat a retreat." It was 
but a year later when he became a drummer boy 
in Napoleon's army. In one of the hardest fought 
battles of Napoleon's military career, it became ap- 
parent to Napoleon that his army would be defeated 
and practically all captured. To save this situation 
the great general ordered a retreat. The drummer 
boy did not beat a retreat. Napoleon, angered, 
rode up to the boy and in harsh tones ordered the 
lad to beat a retreat. The lad looked up and re- 
plied, "I cannot beat a retreat." The now enraged 
general shouted, "Beat a retreat!" Again came the 
firm, resolute reply, "I cannot beat a retreat." 
There was in the lad's expression a look of firm 
expectation that he would not need to beat a retreat. 



-Fundamental Principles 161 

The general was furious, he whirled his horse about 
and derisively shouted back, "Then beat a charge." 
At once that firm determination which made the 
boy self-confident and expectant, fired his spirit and 
he began to beat a charge. All the years of resolu- 
tion and expectancy that were pent up in his soul 
now echoed and re-echoed in those drum beats. 
The soldiers caught the spirit of firmness and, 
thrilled with an ardor that they had never felt 
before, they followed the drummer boy to victory. 

The above story Illustrates the Principle of Ex- 
pectancy — a principle that Is fundamental in dis- 
cipline. It goes much further than merely to expect 
a thing to be done when it is commanded. It be- 
comes a part of the individual, if that individual 
has a firm grip upon the principle of expectancy. 
It IS a principle that will inspire the teacher with 
self-confidence. Everyone can recall some teachers 
who had so firm a belief in their ability to do things 
and secure results as to have no fear that assigned 
tasks would not be well done. When the teacher 
has the principle of expectancy so. well fused Into 
himself as to have confidence that he will get what- 
ever he justly seeks, then, and only then, will he be 
an accomplished disciplinarian. 

The writer once visited the gymnasium of a 
public school just when the high school pupils were 
taking their regular daily exercises. The exercises 
were being directed by the principal. At the close 
of the gymnastic period, the principal in a whining 
tone of voice with these words commanded the 



162 Practical School Discipline 

pupils to leave the gymnasium: *'I want you to 
leave the gymnasium now — right away now." This 
teacher did not expect the pupils to leave the 
gymnasium promptly. He implied that much in his 
command. He got what he expected. Many of 
the pupils continued to loiter about the gymnasium 
striking at each other and making other useless 
movements. It took several more whining com- 
mands before he succeeded in getting the gymna- 
sium cleared of pupils. In fact, some left it so 
reluctantly as to show that they had been antago- 
nized by the principal. This all came about by an 
Improper attitude of the principal in his lack of 
expecting his command to be obeyed. Had he said 
to the pupils in a firm tone of voice at the close of 
the gymnastic period, "This is all," and then 
stepped to the door and opened it, standing aside 
and expecting nothing else, except that every pupil 
/7ould promptly leave the building, the result would 
have been different. Every pupil would have left 
the gymnasium promptly and the spirit of antago- 
nism would not have appeared. 

In actual school work, no principle can do more 
good in its * application than the principle of ex- 
pectancy. One teacher can assign a lesson to a 
class without any admonishing or even the slightest 
suggestion that they should study the lesson. The 
class will return on the following day and recite a 
good lesson. Another teacher may assign to this 
same class a lesson, also without a suggestion as to 
the class preparing the lesson. However, in the 



. Fundamental Principles 163 

next recitation the class will not have the lesson. 
Upon careful Investigation It will be found that 
the one teacher has In his make-up that something 
which makes pupils feel and know that he expects 
nothing else than that his pupils will learn the les- 
sons he assigns them. He does not Inform his 
pupils in so many words that he expects them to 
study the lesson he assigns. He assumes as much; 
then, with a confidence in his pupils that is compel- 
ling he expects them to do his every bidding. The 
other teacher, not In words either, but In his very 
manner, is vacillating. He lacks confidence in 
himself and in his pupils. He is suspicious. He 
is not sure his pupils will study if he tells them to. 
He cannot assign a lesson with a safe feeling that 
the pupils can do nothing else but learn it. He 
waits until the class comes before him, and then 
begins the recitation in a half-hearted way as 
though he knew they did not know the lesson. It 
is a safe assumption. He is not disappointed. The 
class has not prepared the lesson. There are many 
teachers who think themselves "smart" and wise, 
when they can say to a class before they have even 
begun the recitation, "You look as though you did 
not have your lesson. I can tell it by your eyes." 
Such a teacher is a liar. No teacher can tell be- 
forehand whether a class has a lesson or not. It 
Is little wonder that so many teachers fail. They 
are the rocks of destruction to their own pupils. 

On the other hand, in the actual discipline of 
the pupils, the principle of expectancy is of vital 



164 Practical School Discipline 

importance. Who cannot recall a teacher going 
to the back of the school-room to correct a pupil 
and then walking away casting side-wise glances, 
and sometimes making quick turns about, as much 
as to tell the pupil, "I am suspicious of you.'' But 
the information is far broader than that. That 
teacher by his suspicious attitude tells his pupil that 
he is expecting the pupil to perpetrate more mis- 
chief. If he did not think the pupil would repeat 
his pranks, he would not need to watch him. 
Thoughtful teachers can afford to reflect upon this. 
Nothing is more liable to breed mischief and con- 
tempt among pupils than to treat them as though 
they can never be trusted. A teacher practicing 
such an attitude of suspicion can never succeed in 
school-room discipline. To reprimand a pupil and 
then have enough confidence to expect the pupil not 
to repeat the offense will withoi^t fail reach the 
better self of the pupil. He will not repeat the 
offense. Teachers should always expect the best 
result to follow their efforts. They should make 
expectancy the keynote of their lives. Not to be 
expectant is to be suspicious. The question can very 
appropriately be asked: '*What pupil likes to be 
suspected always by his teacher?" And with em- 
phasis: **What teacher would like to be suspected?" 
Then it is high time that teachers expect more 
from their pupils. They will get more. Expect 
them to know their lessons, and they will prepare 
them. Expect them to be obedient, and they will 
be obedient. Expect them to be kind and courteous, 



Fundamental Principles 165 

and they will be kind and courteous. To live in 
expectancy is to live in hope. To the teacher who 
expects the good and hopes for the better, there 
can never be a dull and dreary school. The prin- 
ciple of expectancy is the teacher's beacon light; 
he should never take his eye from it. 

Again, the principle of expectancy is correlated 
with the other fundamental principles of discipline. 
A teacher who by a word, a look, a story or a deed, 
suggests something, would indeed be foolish if he 
did not expect his suggestion to ripen into action. 
A teacher should approve the well learned lessons 
of a pupil, his punctuality, his efforts, not only that 
the child may have a reward in the form of the 
teacher's approval, but also that he may learn that 
any activity worth while will meet with due appre- 
ciation. Such recognition by the teacher stimulates 
the pupil to continue in his good efforts long after 
he lauded them. Teachers confer benefits upon 
pupils, thus rewarding them for their activities, 
expecting the pupils to continue in well-doing after 
having withdrawn from them these special privi- 
leges. The same can be said of the principle of 
substitution. It is very closely correlated with the 
principle of expectancy. It is apparent that a teach- 
er would not attempt to substitute in a child's life 
some good habit, if he did not expect it to crowd 
out an evil habit. A broad statement, but not too 
broad or general can be made about the principle 
of expectancy. It is this: just to the degree that 
the teacher practices and is permeated with the 



166 Practical School Discipline 

principle of expectancy, just so successful' will he 
be, in the use of other fundamental principles of 
discipline. 

Firmness 

Something has been said about firmness. It is 
implied in the principle of expectancy. The teacher 
who failed to get his class out of the gymnasium 
promptly, lacked firmness. He was weak and vac- 
illating. A weak and vacillating character is in no 
sense a moral force in any community, and much 
less in the school-room. Pupils are quick to detect 
the lack of firmness in a teacher and are ever ready 
to make a plaything of him. A safe rule in the 
school-room, and all its activities, is to decide a 
right course of action and then firmly follow it. 
Firmness with a proper determination and force on 
the part of the teacher adds charm to his manner 
and personality, that easily elicits from pupils and 
parents both respect and obedience. 

In the preceding discussion emphasis: has been 
placed upon five great fundamental principles in 
discipline. The principles discussed are; (1) The 
principle of Suggestion, (2) The principle of Ap- 
proval, (3) The principle of Initiative in co-opera- 
tion, (4) The principle of Substitution, and (5) 
The principle of Expectancy. It has been clearly 
explained how they are applied to the scliool-room 
work. Very concrete and real illustrations have 
been given to show just exactly the province of 
each principle. 



Fundamental Principles 167 

Reference has been made to these fundamental 
principles as devices. They are devices, or they 
may be designated as means to an end. It has been 
pointed out that the end of discipline, that is, the 
goal sought is self-control. The fundamental prin- 
ciples when properly applied are roads, devices or 
means — that lead to results, which results reach the 
one goal, self-control. It is entirely unnecessary to 
indulge in a lengthy discussion of results but, suf- 
fice it to say, the teacher by this time is aware of 
many good results that will accrue from the discreet 
use of the fundamental principles in discipline. 
There wiD result the six basal elements in char- 
acter — namely, the establishment of sound senti- 
ments, a quickening of the conscience, an enlighten- 
ing of moral judgment, a training of the will to 
act habitually from high and worthy motives, a 
thoughtfulness of the rights of others, and last 
but not least a practical religious training. "Char- 
acter is the total customary reaction of an individual 
to his environment." ^ The child who leaves the 
school well trained In these six basal elements of 
character, has received at the hands of the school as 
much, and even more, as some may suppose, than 
that institution owes to childhood. 

Summary 

1. The idea, that fundamental principles in dis- 
cipline are not broadly applicable in the school- 
room, is false and unpedagogical. 

^Arthur Holmes, op. cit. p. 28. 



168 Practical School Discipline 

2. Fundamental principles operate toward defin- 
ite ends. 

3. The failure to use fundamental principles in 
discipline gives rise to difficulties in school-manage- 
ment. 

4. Like begts like. The same spirit that the 
teacher manifests in the school-room is the spirit 
that will take root and grow in the lives of his 
pupils. 

5. The principle of suggestion drops a stimu- 
lus into the child's mind which starts an action. 

6. Suggestion for character building comes from 
the character of the teacher — his every-day life. 

7. All the activities of the teacher are suggestive 
of good or bad to the pupil. 

8. Negative suggestions often incite the very 
actions they are supposed to prevent. 

9. Codes ef rules against numerous offenses, 
usually suggest those offenses to pupils. They are 
reminded to do that which they would never have 
thought of, had it not been suggested. 

10. Many of the activities of life depend upon 
the law of suggestion. 

11. Suggestion is a potent agency in volition. 

12. Leading suggestion is a name applied, to a 
principle which says, ^'Suggest only a small part of 
a duty at a time, then a little more and so on until 
all the duty has been done." Very often, to suggest 
a long series of acts to the child does not appeal 
to him effectively. 



Fundamental Principles 169 

13. Imitation is closely related to suggestion. 
Pupils especially imitate and make use of sugges- 
tions from those whom they like. 

14. The principle of approval in discipline is 
valuable in that it appeals to the child by showing 
one's satisfaction and pleasure in the good work he 
has done. 

15. The opposite of approval is fault-finding. 
It is not too radical to say that a teacher should 
never be guilty of fault-finding. 

16. Many faults in children can be eradicated 
by a judicious use of the principle of approval. 

17. It is an easy matter to discourage and ruin 
the best pupils by constant fault-finding. 

18. By approving what little of good there is 
in a bad child, the child may be improved, and 
helped to become a good child. 

19. The teacher who does not embody in his 
life worthy traits of character, cannot effectively 
approve them in other lives. The source of ap- 
proval is important. 

20. Encouragement is a form of approval. 

21. Sometimes the best pupils have met grievous 
obstacles and need positive encouragement. 

22. The fundamental principle of Initiative in 
co-operation may be applied to advantage in disci- 
pline in several ways. A word, a look, a deed, a 
material object, a privilege — all may be instruments 
of initiative in co-operation. 



170 Practical School Discipline 

23. Doing a favor must not be confused with 
the practice of buying good behavior or work, be- 
cause the effect is entirely different. 

24. Pupils cannot be taught to govern themselves 
if they are always governed by some stronger will. 
Children must be allowed to form judgments of 
their own so that later they can make their own 
good decisions. 

25. Often even prudent concessions are denied 
to pupils; the result is that they gratify themselves 
and as a rule fall into hurtful excesses. 

26. Consistency on the part of the teacher is 
necessary if initiative in co-operation is to be pru- 
dently applied. 

27. A teacher cannot be consistent when he is 
liberal in kindnesses one day and on another day 
makes no concessions at all. 

28. Care must be exercised in using the principle 
of initiative in co-operation, so that all pupils are 
benefited as nearly alike as their merits will allow. 
Unless teachers are careful, they will be accused of 
being partial. 

29. The principle of substitution assumes that 
a positive virtue must be cultivated in a child, when 
we desire to remove a vice. 

30. The institutions for reforming bad boys from 
the large cities are conducted on the principle of 
substitution. The boy's life is filled with useful 
work and recreation which replace his idle habits. 

31. In the school-room it is highly essential that 
the day be filled with useful work and play; if 



Fundamental Principles 171 

there is idle time, pupils will use it in mischief- 
making. 

32. Free-for-all recesses and noon intermissions 
are breeding spots in the school day for mischief 
and evil. 

33. Supervised play is the only solution for the 
wise use of the play period and the crowding out of 
occasion for evil at school. 

34. The teacher should pay no attention to the 
objections to supervised play. The objections come 
from those who misunderstand or those who have 
low motives. 

35. The principle of expectancy is closely corre- 
lated with the other great principles underlying 
discipline. 

36. Just to the extent that the teacher is able 
to use the fundamental principle of expectancy, and 
only so far will he be successful in the use of the 
other fundamental principles of discipline. 

37. It is necessary to use firmness and determi- 
nation with the principle of expectancy. 

38. The fundamental principles of discipline are 
the teacher's devices, or means, which he must use 
to obtain the end of discipline — self-control. 



THE END 



Index 



PAGE 

'Aesthetic Appreciation 61-G3 

Approval 131-137 

Associations 44-47 

Cheerfulness 69 

Color Schemes ......... 95 

Confidence ^5 

Consistency 151 

Corporal Punishment ...... xvii 

Courage , 70 

Discipline 103-111 

Dispositions of Pupils 113-117 

Dress . 71-72 

Education of Teacher 31 

Encouragement 137 

Expectancy • . . 160 

Fault-finding ' . . . . 131 

Firmness 166 

Fundamental Principles in Discipline . 113-171 

Summary 167-171 

General Principles, Value of ... . 114 

Gossiping . 45 

Health 75-76 

Honesty 48 

Imitation 129-131 

Initiative in Co-operation 139-151 

172 



Index 



173 



PAGE 

Impartiality 81 

Intemperance 53 

Janitor 98 

Leading Suggestion 127 

Morality, Meaning of 41 

Morals of Teacher . 40-41 

Mottoes 93 

Nature 33-35 

Neatness 58 

Patience 79 

Pictures 92 

Reading 36-37 

Religion 60 

Rules 120 

School-grounds 90 

School, The 89-101 

Summary 100-101 

School-room, The 90 

Self Confidence 65' 

System 76 

Social Life 80 

Substitution 153 

Suggestion . . . . ' 117 

Sympathy with Pupils 66 

Tact xiv, 64 

Teacher, The . 27-88 

-Summary 82-88 

Temper 56 

Ventilation 96 







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